[-empyre-] Re: Computational Poetics

[Aleksandra Dulic <adulic@sfu.ca>]

> I take it http://www.sfu.ca/~adulic/oneRiver.html is relevant to  
> the ideas
> you discuss below?
>
> Are you developing any digital works involved in the Balinese  
> theatre you
> describe, or does the Balinese theatre function solely in a  
> 'theoretical'
> context in your work?

Dear Jim, interesting questions.

I have been involved in researching shadow play in general and in  
particular Balinese form just over three years. My studies in Bali  
influence my work and are most of all great source of inspiration. My  
practice has changed in many ways by this experience.  However, it is  
not surprising  that i still think about this form on a very  
theoretical level. Sometimes it takes years to develop new practices,  
approaches and collaborative relationships.

The braided process as a concept influence the way i conceive the  
interaction within the work of art — particularly that of  
"interactive" art.  This notion enables me to position the work of  
art in relationship to a community and a presentation context. Shadow  
play as a model for media performance and installation allows  
braiding together spatial, temporal and contextual considerations.  
The artistic method shifts from working towards final product to  
developing a performance system in within which performers and  
participants can improvise. The creative engagement between the  
performers, the audiences and the work can bring together communities  
and allow the new visions and the communal identities to emerge. The  
braided relationships between time, space, narrative elements and  
performers are based on participants action.

One River (running)is composed of braided ensembles of visual, aural,  
and procedural media objects that converge into a river. It acts as  
an open work documentary that represents the materials of the work  
each time in a new way. The documentary quality resembles a cinematic  
composition that is in this case distributed in the space thorough  
the placement of audio-visual elements. This media installation is  
situated or braided both through the content of the work drawn from  
Surrey citizens (the community in which the work was presented) as  
well as by the audiences interaction with the space of the  
installation and media animation.
( http://www.sfu.ca/~adulic/oneRiver.html )

Here is link to another work that Kenneth and i developed that  
embodies the idea of integrating the communal realities with the  
interactive and process based structure of the work.
http://gaia.iat.sfu.ca/%7ealeks/NewWebSite/media/leaves/tempate/S1.html