Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

For this CC/NSERC New Media Initiative, choreographer/media artist Henry Daniel, mathematician Peter Borwein, and engineers Ivan Bajic and lie Liang will collaborate on the development of systems and algorithms for advanced video coding and processing that will reduce both delay and bandwidth required for distributed dance performance, while improving the overall experience for performing artists using 3-D scene acquisition and representation. Concurrent with these activities, two major contemporary dance works and several smaller projects will be created, working collaboratively with partners in the UK, North and South America, and Asia utilizing the ADAPT network (Association of Dance and Performance Telematics). The overall goal is to push the level of the telepresence experience and interactivity beyond what is currently offered by even the most sophisticated collaboration environments, while exploring the cultural implications of these activities as content within the works themselves. This proposal builds on the findings of a two-year (2003-2005) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) sponsored Research Development Initiative (RDI), which established Transnet (Transdisciplinary Network for Performance and Technology) as an international network of researchers interested in exploring intersections between disciplines, especially between the arts and sciences, using dance, performance, and new technologies.