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ICH² - Intermedia dance performance for Planetaria.

In cooperation with the whole team my job was to develop the script of the show.
In addition to the conception part i designed and implemented several 3D scenes which has to be understood as digital stage sets for the planetarium show.

SHORT DESCRIPTION
ICH² (Me to the power of 2) is an interactive dance performance especially developed for fulldome projection as used in modern digital planetariums. The performance combines expressive modern dance and 360° interactive motion graphics.
In this way ICH² is a very unique piece of the emerging genre called Digital Theatre, in which digital media technology enables alterable and imersive stage settings.
Nominated for the "Digital Sparks Award 2008"

THE GENETIC PROGRAMMING OF MAN
It is part of us all and understood as the program that we are made of: The genetic code. We see in it the essence of the individual, the source of identity and a modified definition of the self.
«The modern concept of the gene led to the perception, that the body is not a static, given entity, but – similar to computer software – a set of commands, a program, that can be handed over to the next generation.»
Christina von Braun’s quote expresses the confusion of modern man, who is discovering the benefits of technological progress as well as genetechnology’s threats.
Paradigm shifts of man’s destiny and everyone’s ability to reproduce as well as other social changes thereof make us ask the question:
What is our individuality beyond the mere analysis of our datasets? Will it be possible to program formerly only imagined versions of our real bodies? What if our individuality will be simpliy cloned away? What if our self will be enhancend into a second self made of flesh and blood, looking identical?
Are these questions, born in the controversial science of genetechnology new?

ICH² (ME TO THE POWER OF 2)
The contentual discussion that ICH² has, is based on the assumption that these questions have been around since the age of man.
The known issue of duplication/reproduction in relation to the artificial production and enhancement of human life is reappearing within a new set of paradigms of modern technology.
The cross-media dance performance is including latest research as well as an array of forms of encounters with the other self: in dream and in shadow as well as on media from mirror over film to digital imagery. The theatre, which the body lets take place on the stages of subconsciousness and media is merged with the „sans-frontiere“ virtuality that emerges within the reality of the theatre’s space.
Which art form would be better to transcend this act than dance? Contemporary dance uses modern media to accelerate the pervasion of virtuality and reality.

360 DEGREE PROJECTION MEETS MOTION-TRACKING
The performance ICH² combines dance and media art with complex content and attractive use of cross-media. Art and technology synergetically combine to a creative game on duplication and variation. ICH² is merging the components into a hybrid amalgamation, which creates a digital space of possibilities, which is not only reflecting the perspectives of genetechnology, but offers the visitor a new space for experience.
An intruiging atmosphere is created by the interaction between stage and the projection onto the dome. A unique installation for an extra-ordinary space: a planetarium including a 360 degrees moving image projection. State-of-the-art projection technology is merging with dance theatre and interactive media into a fascinating wholesome piece of art, is modifying it and allowing a completely new kind of production: dancer and media together create an artistic space that involves the audience in a new way. The impact of the imagery and the intensively short proximity of the performers, forms a high level of immersion.
Hardly has a visitor been closer to the dancers. This turns standard planetariums into experiental Digital Theatres, in which man and technology can be part of a unique symbiosys.

CLIENT: Developed during my studies at Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
ROLE: Script-Development, 2D + 3D Motion Graphics

CREDITS:
Artists / Authors (Students):
Alexander Brauch, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Christian Engler, Artistic and scientific employee, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Jens Ewald, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Manuel Klauser, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Michel Magens, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Patrick Müller, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Jan Reiss, Student, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Sven Lütgen, Artistic and scientific employee, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design

Employees of the University:
Prof. Tom Duscher, Centre for Media, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Christian Engler, Artistic and scientific employee, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Sven Lütgen, Artistic and scientific employee, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Prof.in Dr. phil. habil. Petra Maria Meyer, Centre for Theory, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Mario Schröder, Choreographer, Ballett Kiel

CHECKOUT:
www.ich-quadrat.de
www.kyjoi.de