[UCI-CalIT2] ACE Seminar Notice - Reinventing the Book, Reinventing Opera

[Stuart A ROSS]

The Graduate Program in Arts, Computation, and Engineering presents

Dr. Maribeth Back 

Speaking on

"Reinventing the Book, Reinventing Opera:  Experiments in Art and
Technology"


Time: 1:30-3:00 PM on Tuesday, April 15th
Location: Engineering Gateway 3161


Dr. Back will discuss the genesis, design, and implementation processes
for two large-scale projects that combine research in emerging
technologies with art and performance:  XFR, Experiments in the Future
of Reading, from Xerox PARC; and The Brain Opera, from the MIT Media
Lab.

XFR: Experiments in the Future of Reading

Reading occupies center stage in our technological society.  It is more
ubiquitous and more necessary than computers, electricity, or the
automobile.  It is far older, and has become interwoven with every
aspect of our daily lives.  Reading is intrinsic to the ways we share
knowledge, the ways we entertain ourselves, and how we manage our
social, political, economic, and educational systems.  Reading
continually changes; it adapts to whatever technological or social
changes come along.  When the practice of reading  changes, over time or
across cultures, people's ideas about reading and writing also shift.
"XFR: Experiments in the Future of Reading" is a collection of
interactive museum exhibits designed to explore the intersection of
technology with reading.  These robust hands-on prototypes encourage
visitors to try for themselves how new technologies might shape the
reading experience.  What is it like to read a book you can walk
through...or one you can drive through?  What if you had a book you
could play like an instrument?  This part of the talk takes a close look
at the experimental reading exhibits in the show and uncovers some of
the technology behind the exhibits.


The Brain Opera

The Brain Opera, a new kind of interactive musical
experience/performance, was created by a team of more than fifty artists
and scientists at the MIT Media Lab under the direction of composer Tod
Machover.  It is a three-part work (Mind Forest, Brain Opera
Performance, and Net Music) structured to incorporate the musical
contributions of both on-line and live audiences.   The Mind Forest, a
complex space filled with hands-on
experiences that turn body gesture and voice input into music and
images, was designed to create the impression of walking, figuratively,
into a giant musical brain.  Organic shapes and materials and
responsive, invisible sensors help make the environment feel natural and
responsive rather than high-tech and mechanical.  Its main components --
the hyperinstruments -- are The Singing and Speaking Trees, The Rhythm
Tree, Harmonic Driving, The Gesture Wall, and The Melody Easel.  The
Brain Opera culminates in a 45-minute Final Performance, where a
3-movement composition ties together the project's many musical, visual,
and textual strands into a unified tapestry.  Three performers shape,
select, and interpret precomposed and audience-created elements, using
specially-designed hyperinstruments: the Sensor Chair (which translates
wireless body movement into sound); the Gesture/Rhythm Wall (a
combination of the same instruments from the Mind Forest); and the
Digital Baton (which combines accelerometers,  selection switches,
pressure sensors).  The Brain Opera debuted at the Lincoln Center
Festival in New York City in 1996, and toured worldwide, including the
Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, the NexOpera Festival in
Tokyo, Singapore, and the Electronic Cafe International in Copenhagen.
The Brain Opera is now in permanent residence at the House of Music
museum in Vienna, Austria.


THE SPEAKER:

Maribeth Back is a researcher and designer who builds and writes about
real-world, socially informed exploratory applications for new
technologies.  She is especially interested in multi-modal design: the
practical integration of visual, sonic and haptic content with physical
form and social context.  As a senior research scientist at Xerox PARC
(1996 - 2002), she worked with the RED group exploring emerging
technologies.  Her work there included experimental e-books, design for
wireless interaction, and audio engineering for virtual and augmented
reality systems.  She has done engineering and design for live theatre,
radio, and CD-ROM; informatics for experimental medical systems,
including home care, operating rooms design, and remote surgery; sound
theory and system design for computational environments; and performance
and installation pieces, both solo and collaborative.  She was also
sound designer, researcher, and performer for the MIT Media Lab's Brain
Opera, performing at Lincoln Center and Ars Electronica.  Back completed
her doctorate at Harvard's Graduate School of Design in May 1996.  Dr.
Back is a candidate for a faculty position in the ACE program.