Syllabus: Installations and Interactive Performance (THTR 3880)

THTR 3880:0001 Cross Reference: DANC 3880:0001
Spring, 2021 || M&W: 3:30p-5:20p

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: An introduction to the aesthetics, techniques and practical possibilities of fusing together theatre, dance, music/sound, art, design, cinema, gaming, human computer interaction, and engineering. Students will learn the foundations of creating interactive experiences that use digital photos, video, text, real-world objects, sensor data, live bodies moving in space, Kinect 2 sensors, cameras, and multiple video outputs such as projectors and LED displays. The interactive, node-based programming software Isadora, will be used to create immersive mediated performances, interactive installations, embodied user based experiences and user manipulated virtual environments.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Understand the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of incorporating interactive digital media into installations, live performance and user based experiences.
  • Develop applied knowledge of creating interactive media installations and live performance by designing and realizing projects in various analog, digital and new media.
  • Cite and discuss historical and contemporary artists and companies.
  • Work collaboratively across disciplines to investigate multimedia approaches to contemporary live experiences and new modes of storytelling.
  • Develop skills in manipulating digital assets such as photos, videos, text, live video streams and data.
  • Operate computer, video, projection, sensor, and camera equipment.
  • Be able to perform basic-intermediate, node-based programming skills in Isadora.
  • Develop the organizational and artistic skills necessary to successfully produce installations, interactive performance and user based experiences.
  • Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  • Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Intro, gear, check-out, studio, system, in-class assignments
  • Isadora (Networks, Video)
  • Isadora (Sound)
  • Isadora (Camera, Displays)
  • Isadora (NDI, Syphon, Zoom integration)
  • Isadora (Control)
  • Isadora (Generative Art)
  • Isadora (Projection Mapping)
  • Isadora (Data Visualization)
  • Isadora (Kinect)
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