Dancing With Myself, 2009three projector, hybrid reality interactive, immersive and performative installation, comic book documentation

swipe/drag image

In Dancing With Myself my avatar, Nar Duell, has been scripted to perform a choreography. I respond to Nar Duell, attempting to create a duet with her, thereby inverting the person/avatar paradigm, as Nar Duell controls me. In real-time performance, she moves in an immersive environment projected onto three walls. Her world is expansive and infinite. The real-world space where I respond and dance is boxed in and confined, once again reversing the usual view of space through a computer screen.

Dancing with Myself finds expression through choreographic interaction for the narcissistic relationship that people often develop with the portraits they create or commission of themselves, whether as static photographs or scripted avatars. The creation and relationship to one’s avatar portrait in virtual worlds are all-encompassing. People lavish time and money in order to represent themselves. But the disconnect from reality is unavoidable as one interacts with this virtual space. The physical distancing of flying through space by using your fingertips on a keyboard is hard to ignore. The piece navigates divisions — self/avatar, flat/3D, real/perceived.

Credits:

Second Life programming: Desdemona Enfield

Choreographic coach: Karen Kaeja

Director of photography: Ben Matilainen

Video editing: John Watson

Sound editing: Dennis Schaefer (Douglas Story in Second Life)
Installation and Performance assistance: Sean Procyk, Nic Thirlwall, Yoanna Terziyska, Laure Mitchell

Review

 

 

Dancing With Myself, 2009three projector, hybrid reality interactive, immersive and performative installation, comic book documentation

swipe/drag image

In Dancing With Myself my avatar, Nar Duell, has been scripted to perform a choreography. I respond to Nar Duell, attempting to create a duet with her, thereby inverting the person/avatar paradigm, as Nar Duell controls me. In real-time performance, she moves in an immersive environment projected onto three walls. Her world is expansive and infinite. The real-world space where I respond and dance is boxed in and confined, once again reversing the usual view of space through a computer screen.

Dancing with Myself finds expression through choreographic interaction for the narcissistic relationship that people often develop with the portraits they create or commission of themselves, whether as static photographs or scripted avatars. The creation and relationship to one’s avatar portrait in virtual worlds are all-encompassing. People lavish time and money in order to represent themselves. But the disconnect from reality is unavoidable as one interacts with this virtual space. The physical distancing of flying through space by using your fingertips on a keyboard is hard to ignore. The piece navigates divisions — self/avatar, flat/3D, real/perceived.

Credits:

Second Life programming: Desdemona Enfield

Choreographic coach: Karen Kaeja

Director of photography: Ben Matilainen

Video editing: John Watson

Sound editing: Dennis Schaefer (Douglas Story in Second Life)
Installation and Performance assistance: Sean Procyk, Nic Thirlwall, Yoanna Terziyska, Laure Mitchell

Review