Category: Archive [events]

Jordan Juras & Davide Luciani are Artists in Residence 2021 at the Immersive Arts Space and ICST.

Focal Field explores the spectrum of presence felt in augmented sonic reality – from the intimacy of closeness to the abstracted relation between disembodied voice, sound, and space. Perceptual relations between the real and virtual are tightened by situating augmented reality sound within synthetic reverberant architectures, and reinforcing localisation through light. The installation engages with our necessity to rationalise any aural manifestation. These fields of fragmentation – between the spectrums of connection and disconnection – have led the duo to draft a sound space where the voice, the Phonè, and its experience become the object and subject of aesthetic speculation.

The presentations took place on Thursday, October 22nd 2021.

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The installation and immersive performance took place between October 6th and 9th 2021

See trailer of the performance here

In the ongoing research project “The Umbrella Project” the use of 3D audio and projection mapping are explored in order to achieve a sense of immersion without isolating participants from the real world, essentially, enabling an imaginary fantasy world to come to life in our own. We employ multiple levels of 3D audio and projection mapping (both directly within and on the umbrella, as well as throughout the room itself) in order to transport the participant into this virtual world. 

As such, we can consider the umbrellas, and the overall system of which they are a part, to be an instrument of sorts, in that they literally allow us to compose and explore reactive sonic environments in 6 degrees of freedom (6 DoF). Additionally, the umbrellas can also function as a measurement instrument, much as a stethoscope does as a sonic instrument for medical examination; however, in this case, through the immersive experiences they purvey, the umbrellas enable us to examine the nature of our own perception of reality. 

The end goal of the project is to create a series of navigable compositions in the form of exploratory sonic worlds, as well as interactive experiences where the participants’ behaviors (relative to each other and the world) shape the sonic and visual environment. Furthermore, we are investigating sonic and visual paradigms where the umbrellas can function both as objects existing in and can interact with the virtual world, as well as being windows onto these other worlds.

Crew: Eric Larrieux (direction, 3D audio) , Stella Speziali (projection mapping), Mariana Vieira Grünig (scenography)

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The first edition of the feature film conference ZFICTION took place in June 2021 and focused the versatile promises of the new tools for film production. Filmmakers and researchers explored the question of how virtual production will change the near future of fictional storytelling in film and what new challenges this will bring.

In the conference exhibition Immersive Arts Space hosted a virtual production shooting situation, offered hands-on experiences with the cineDesk and showcased the virtual production method that filmmaker in residence Andreas Dahn had applied for his animation film and VR experience Home in the Distance.

On the conference website www.zfiction.ch the talks, discussions and elements of the exhibtion can be revisited.

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Diploma performance, MA Transdisciplinarity by Melody Chua

black box fading, a performance for human, sensor-augmented flute (chaosflöte), and improvisation machine (AIYA), is an immersive experience that draws upon the performance interplay between human and machine to craft a narrative that manipulates perceptions of human-machine agency and human-machine interactions in a neosurrealist environment. The work is a hybrid setting between performance and installation, and between virtual reality and live events, where live reactive sounds and visual projections, shifting perceptions of space and scale, and unconventional 360° editing techniques contribute to the sensation of continuously negotiable dynamics between human and machine as well as the disruption of traditional performance hierarchies.

Crew

Melody Chua – concept, instrument, performance
Valentin Huber: cinematographer 360° camera
Eric Larrieux: sound engineer
Sébastien Schiesser: technical manager, IAS

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Diploma project, Master Transdisciplinarity, by Bojan Milosevic

The use of human data in combination with computer algorithms creates a kind of post-human entity. In form of an improvisational dance performance, Chimaera explores the interaction between a performer and his avatar – a human-machine hybrid. The performance took place in March in the Immersive Arts Space and was streamed live.

Crew
Bojan Milosevic (project leader, audio and video coding)
Petra Rotar (dance, choreography)
Carmen Stüssi (dramaturgy)
Patrick Müller (mentoring)
Tobias Baumann (support motion capture)
Eric Larrieux (support 3D sound)
Schiesser Sébastien (IAS technician)
Martin Fröhlich (support projection mapping

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Floating in Dancing Lights is a mesmerizing dance performance featuring a dancer and a flying swarm of objects, illuminated by means of Spatial Augmented Reality. The performance represents the tentative culmination of an internal project of the Immersive Arts Space which offers a do-it-yourself framework for designing and building remotely controllable helium drones.

Floating in Dancing Lights was part of the artistic research project Helium Drones. The performances premiered at the REFRESH#3 conference in September 2020.

Crew:
Martin Fröhlich (project lead), Max Kriegleder (robotics, motion control), Roman Jurt (rapid prototyping, construction), Serena Cangiano (ideation).

Performance:
Denise Lampart, (choreography), Naomi Khamihigashi (dancer), David Peña (assistant to choreographer), Ben Vorhar (costume design), Luca Magni, Eric Larrieux (sound).

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REFRESH #3 Sept 18, 2020, Immersive Arts Space

The performance A Day at the Beach explores the use of 3D audio and projection mapping to achieve a sense of immersion without isolating the participants from the real world and thus enabling an imaginary fantasy world to come to life. In in order to transport the participants into this virtual world, multiple levels of 3D audio and projection mapping are employed, both directly onto umbrellas, as well as throughout the room itself.
The goal is to create exploratory, interactive sonic worlds, where the participants’ behaviour (relative to each other and the environment) shape the sonic and visual experience. These environments are best experienced from directly underneath the umbrellas.

At the REFRESH conference, A Day at the Beach demonstrated some early results of the ongoing research project The Umbrella Project. – Watch the teaser video.

Crew: Eric Larrieux (project lead), Stella Speziali, Martin Fröhlich, Corinne Soland, Mariana Vieira Grünig

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Dance, motion-tracking, live projections, sounds and a lot of heavy fog: by means of advanced technology, “state: lucid” combines installational and performative elements with a holistic, immersive experience.

The premiere of Robi Voigt’s diploma project state: lucid took place on November 1st, 2020, with further performances on the following two days, in cooperation with the Swiss Digital Days.

Crew:
Robi Voigt – concept, installation, staging, video
Mira Studer – dance, choreography
Stella Speziali – interaction design
Friederike Helmes – costumes, lighting, collaboration installation
David Eliah Bangerter – composition, sound
Stefanie Olbort – dance, choreography
Line Eberhard – the eye from outside

Technical support: Martin Fröhlich, Tobias Baumann, Eric Larrieux, Viktoras Zemeckas, Hans-Jürg Hofman, Matthias Röhm, Lukas Keller, Thomas Utzinger, Michel Weber, Lucien Sadkowski, Dominik Fedier.

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The Research Day of the Zurich University of the Arts in 2019 was dedicated to the Research Cycle. Two workshops took place in the Immersive Arts Space:

WORKSHOP 1, November 28th 2019
Actors, Avatars and the Countenance: About the many faces of the SNF research project Actor and Avatar. Prof. Dr. Dieter Mersch, Prof. Anton Rey

WORKSHOP 3, November 28th 2019
Knowledge Transfer into Education and Public, based on the projects Expedition 2 Degrees, Virtual Production und Virtually Real. Jonas Christen, Prof. Niklaus Heeb, Prof. Christian Iseli

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Thursday, 7 November 2019
ZKB Freiraum, Bahnhofstr. 9, 8001 Zurich

At a lunchtime event, Christian Iseli, head of the ZHdK Immersive Arts Space, and Melody Chua, ZHdK student and co-founder of Null-state, Inc., talked about the significance of digital change for art and culture and provided insights into projects of the Immersive Arts Space.

A cooperation between the Zurich University of the Arts (Z-Cubator and Game Design) and the Zürcher Kantonalbank (Cantonal Bank of Zurich).

Hosted by Z-Kubator und Büro Züri

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