Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) has played an active role in cultivating creative and research environments to support the art & technology of the next generation. Since 2011, we have carried out “Reactor for Awareness in Motion (RAM)”, a research project for developing tool for dance creation and education, with Yoko Ando, a dancer from The Forsythe Company, a leading contemporary dance company and programmers from Japan and the US. Professionals in dance and technology shared an innovative concept in dance and developed it in the form of a physical tool and workshop. It is a revolutionary project in the sense that the technology is not only for theatrical effect, but also to embody one of the very natures of dance and communicate it with the world. What we witness is a technological inquiry into the nature of dance. Customized based on the perspectives of the dancer, the digital tool writes a new chapter in the history of experience in dance and technology.
Imagine dance as a kind of interaction between dancers and their surrounding environment, instead of enacting certain choreography. The possibilities of dance become innumerable. RAM can animate the body of the dancer shown upside down, for instance, by using a digital technology which captures dancers’ movements in real time. Dancer can create a dance by changing or expanding their relationship with the space while looking at the screen. It also becomes an opportunity for dancers to reconsider their subconscious image or understanding of their own body. It is also an important mission of RAM to develop a creative platform for dance, in which programmers and artists from other fields can collaborate by designing and programing scenes that stimulate dancers' imaginations.
Using devices such as motion capture systems or “Microsoft Kinect™”, a computer detects the movements of dancers, collects and converts various relevant information in the form of image and sound for example, and visualizes them in the context of the dancer’s body. Processing everything in real time, it allows dancers to decide their next movement, in other words create their own “rule”, based on visual, aural and haptic information.
Organized by Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with Yamaguchi City, the Board of Education of Yamaguchi City,
Goethe-Institut Osaka
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2014
Co-developed with YCAM InterLab
This project is made possible by aids from the public lottery.
Produced by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
Organized by Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2012
Special support: Goethe Institut
Equipment Cooperation: NAC Image Technology, Motion Analysis Corporation, Color Kinetics
Japan Incorporated
Co-developed with YCAM InterLab
Produced by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
Organized by Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2011
Special support: Goethe Institut
Produced by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
Organized by Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with Yamaguchi City, the Board of Education of Yamaguchi City
Co-developed with: YCAM InterLab
Produced by: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
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