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Tjaša Frumen
Sofia Pantouvaki
Emilio Lopez
Mario di Francesco
Mia Jalerva
Tomi Humalisto

Agency of Technology

Website / Social Media: http://sofiapantouvaki.com/research1/

https://www.hiit.fi/multidisciplinary-research-project-explored-possibilities-of-wearable-technology-in-performing-arts/

https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/39193

“HOW IS YOUR COSTUME AGENTIVE?”

This costume is designed to provoke different levels of direct real-time interaction between the performer wearing the costume and the stage elements (set, props, sound, stage lighting, incl. the costume-embedded lights), solely through the action of the performer’s movement in space and without any other mediating operator, expanding the costume’s role to undertake, performatively, changes that are traditionally managed by the technician behind the controlling console.

BIOGRAPHY

Tjaša Frumen is a costume designer from Maribor (Slovenia), actively working in film, animation, performing arts and interactive installations. In her MA thesis, completed at Aalto University, Finland, she investigated the use of wearable electronics in live performance, their functions and influences on the design of costume, the work dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the performance-making process as a whole.

Sofia Pantouvaki, PhD, is a scenographer and Professor of Costume Design at Aalto University, Finland. Her credits include over 80 designs for theatre, film, opera and dance productions in Europe, as well as curatorial and exhibition design projects. 

Mia Jalerva, Master of Arts (Theatre and Drama), is a Finland-based lighting designer who has lately been working with post-humanism, sustainability, and site-sensitive performances.

Tomi Humalisto is a lighting designer, Professor of Lighting Design (UniARTS Helsinki) and researcher. His art-making relates mostly to Finnish contemporary dance, theatre and live art performances.

Emilio López is a computer science student and software developer from Rosario, Argentina. His main interests include embedded systems, system software, and algorithms.

Mario Di Francesco received a PhD degree in information engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2009. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland.

TITLE: Digitalizing Performance: Demo (); – Interactive Performance

Digitalizing Performance is an exploration of an intelligent 3D locating system, focusing on how to use its possibilities narratively in live performance, when embedded into costume. Demo(); – Interactive Performance is the performance developed from this exploration, throughout which the location of the performer is being tracked through her costume; this position data is used to generate location-related cues which enable various atmospheric and scenic manipulations.

The costume’s integrated functions upgraded its role and usage, breaking the basic conventional frames by expanding its visual function towards new, multi-sensory layers. With the use of wearable electronics, the costume became a tool to provide a novel set of audio-visual manipulation options, an agent that moved the dramaturgy forward. This pushed costume to the foreground of the performance-making process.

Digitalizing Performance with Wearables and Software is a project funded by the Aalto Internal Seed funding scheme for ‘new multidisciplinary openings’, led by Professors Mario Di Francesco (Aalto SCI), Sofia Pantouvaki (Aalto ARTS) and Tomi Humalisto (UniARTS, VÄS). Collaborating guest supervisor: Taina Relander, costume designer.

IMAGE CAPTIONS & CREDITS

01
Performer and the moving light.

Tjaša Frumen, Sofia Pantouvaki, Emilio Lopez, Mario di Francesco, Mia Jalerva, Tomi Humalisto, Demo (); – Interactive Performance, 2018, Costume design: Tjaša Frumen with Sofia Pantouvaki
Computer science: Emilio Lopez with Mario di Francesco
Lighting design: Mia Jalerva with Tomi Humalisto
Set design: Oscar Dempsey
Sound design: Kalle Rasinkangas
Performer: Aliisa Rinne
Foto: Niko Hallikainen

02
Performer on the trapeze.

Tjaša Frumen, Sofia Pantouvaki, Emilio Lopez, Mario di Francesco, Mia Jalerva, Tomi Humalisto, Demo (); – Interactive Performance, 2018
Costume design: Tjaša Frumen with Sofia Pantouvaki
Computer science: Emilio Lopez with Mario di Francesco
Lighting design: Mia Jalerva with Tomi Humalisto
Set design: Oscar Dempsey
Sound design: Kalle Rasinkangas, Performer: Aliisa Rinne
Foto: Niko Hallikainen

03
Tjaša Frumen, Sofia Pantouvaki, Emilio Lopez, Mario di Francesco, Mia Jalerva, Tomi Humalisto, Demo (); – Interactive Performance, 2018, video, 3:17

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