Embodied interfaces: dancing with digital sprites

Sita Popat, Scott Palmer
2008 Digital Creativity  
This paper focuses on the research project, Projecting Performance, in which off-stage technical operators take on the role of performer through the live manipulation of digital 'sprites' in a theatrical environment. The sprites are projected onto gauzes in the stage space, and operators control them with graphics tablets and pens to perform with on-stage dancers. Operators have frequently described experiences of dislocation or translocation during the experience of operating, and this paper
more » ... vestigates the reasons for such reports. It presents the tripartite models of Zich and Castronova from the fields of theatre studies and human-computer interaction respectively, cross-referencing them to analyse the relationship between performer-operator and sprite. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological theories are then employed through the writings of Crowther and Fraleigh to explore the experience of the performer-operator. The paper proposes an understanding of the digital interface in Projecting Performance as embodied and experienced both visually and kinaesthetically by the performer-operator.
doi:10.1080/14626260802037478 fatcat:ditsfwhkjncqvdgw2oazhjbwx4