Immersive Physical Theater and Interactive Art
Abstract
In my digital arts and research practice I collaborate with musicians, dancers and physical theater artists to create virtual audio-visual environments that react to the movements of the live performers on stage. Dot and the Kangaroo and Creature:Interactions are two new works for children created by long-term collaborators, Stalker Theatre. Dot is a 45 minute theater show, while Creature:Interactions is a participatory art experience including live performers and a large 360-degree interactive screen. The works were designed as to be experienced together as companion pieces and both explore the ecological themes and narrative of the Australian classic children’s novel Dot and the Kangaroo. These artworks are not a matter of virtual vs physical or participant vs spectator, but instead an exploration of how to blur the boundaries between these worlds to create an engaging and fantastical mixed reality experience.My artworks and research combine interactive art, immersive technology, and live performance to create shared mixed-reality experiences. Recent examples of this hybridization are the two interrelated works for children created with long-term collaborator Stalker Theatre Company: a physical theater show titled Dot and the Kangaroo and an interactive art installation presented inside a large 360 degree shared immersive space titled Creature:Interactions. Both of these productions integrate human physical movement with interactive virtual environments to explore ecological themes through the adaptation of an Australian classic children’s book, Dot and the Kangaroo. Real-time motion capture is passed into a fluid simulation and gaming physics engine to allow totemistic animal illustrations to bend and warp in response to movement, birds and butterflies to flock about the audience, and movement-generated particles to “magically” construct the 3-D animated bush landscapes.
The virtual elements of these works take the children into the Australian bush and allow the magical elements of the story to be fully explored. The physical movement and presence of live actors creates a very personal and embodied human connection to the themes.
Dot and the Kangaroo by Stalker Theatre. Video by Jaina Kalifa.
The theater show is a passive experience for the audience where the children are inspired by the movement and spectacle of acrobatic performers, engrossed by the live music, and drawn into the ecological theme by the charm of the story, songs, and narrative prose. When they become participants in the large 360-degree interactive world of Creature:Interactions, the children are already primed with examples of expert movement and the fantastical narrative from the theater show which helps to enrich their own interactive journey. Live facilitators encourage the children to mimic animal movements and work together in small teams which further promotes a richness of movement-based interaction beyond that of simple hand waving.
Creature:Interactions by Stalker Theatre. Video by Jaina Kalifa.
These artworks are not a matter of virtual versus physical or participant versus spectator, but instead an exploration of how to blur the boundaries between these worlds in order to create an engaging and fantastical mixed-reality experience. The virtual elements extend or distort the capabilities of the physical world, while the physical and human presence brings an embodied engagement to the virtual world. Similarly, professional actors, dancers, musicians, and physical performers can inspire and engage a spectator in storytelling, while participatory works allow the audience to explore their own physicality and connect with fellow participants. The combination of live performance and virtual environment in the companion works Dot and the Kangaroo and Creature:Interactions is a small step toward bringing together virtual and live performance in experiential education and participatory art.
