Introducing Future Physical

Symposium:


Session Title:
  • Orai, Ownership of Information

Presentation Title:
  • Introducing Future Physical

Presenter(s):


Abstract:

  • Future Physical is a major digital arts program co-conceived by Shinkansen and East England Arts, which will explore the interface between the body and technology. Running between December 2002 and April 2003, it will bring installations, research, club events, performances, network exchanges, workshops, web artifacts, creative user research and debates to the East England region. Mixing international, national and regional commissions, Future Physical has been split into four research strands: Wearable Computing, Biotechnology, Ecotechnology and Responsive Environments. In addition, the program will include the VYou project, which will allow East England residents to choreograph dances featuring their virtual selves. Among the artists that Future Physical will feature are internationally renowned names such as Thecla Schiphorst and Susan Kozel, f0.am and Masaki Fujihata. Future Physical will also run 18 projects chosen from entries to a call for Open Commissions, including submissions from the likes of Martin Kusch and Marie-Claude Poulin, Anthony Roberts and Philip Warnell, Alexa Wright, Nicholas Stedman, Sophia Lycouris and Yacov Sharir, and Jane Prophet. In this poster session, we propose to familiarise you with the highlights of the Future Physical Program, and with the diversity of commissions within Future Physical, which range from a reactive blind created by Rachel Wingfield, printed with organic foliage which will appear to grow naturally and evolve to TxOom, a responsive space created by f0.am in which spectator/participants, constrained physically inside costumes, interact with each other and the space through motion-tracking and regenerate their environment through visuals and sound. Future Physical aims to explore questions such as: “Can technology give us a rich experience of life and human interaction?” “What are the future visions of the human body’s interaction with digital tools? “What is live?” And: “What is authentic?” Through creative user research, we aim to explore the blurring of boundaries between spectators and participants in relation to new forms of digital artworks. We are committed to concepts such as co-authoring, group processes and open sourcing, and will debate such topics in greater depth during this poster session.

     

    Full text (PDF) p. 163

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