“Pixel” was a project seeking to reflect on the representation of the body in the new digital age.
I was invited to integrate a multidisciplinary team as a multimedia designer. I designed the background “operating system” responsible for making it work, it involved dealing with real time digital image acquisition and manipulation and video feedback using live cameras, all this in a setup that had to be simple to operate by the performers.
The choreographer Rui Horta joined ExperimentaDesign in a process which challenges new operating models, combining design and choreography.
A take on the body in the digital age. A specially designed installation using multimedia technology sets up an encounter between the real body and its representation through images. Each of the performances explores variations in visual and auditory perception, and includes interaction with the audience.
A 3×4 m screen slides along a 16 m tunnel. This enclosed space allows a limited number of people to witness and participate in a maze of visual perceptions dealing with the real body and its representation through the image. A digital camera and several sensors, connected to a computer, are used in real time. Both the public and the performers take part in the action making each event different from the next. Distance and proximity are the main characters of this visual play.
Using the body as a starting point, the images projected range from total abstraction to anatomic precision. Skin as a communication interface with the other and the outside world in general is the center point of this work.
“Pixel” was a co-production between experimentadesign and Rui Horta/Centro Coreográfico de Montemor-o-Novo. It was integrated in experimentadesign2001.
Tech Specs:
Run time: 30 minutes
Concept/choreography/light design: Rui Horta
Performers: Volker Mitch, Patrick Hurde / Luís Guerra, Patrick Hurde
Multimedia: Helder Luís
Music: Vítor Joaquim
Structure design: Fernando Brísio