EMPAC, The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center

On Oct 3rd Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute opened the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, NY.

EMPAC is an unprecedented experimental center dedicated to the integrated pursuit of the performing arts and sciences. The 220,000-square foot building, designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, includes a 1200-seat concert hall with an adjustable fabric ceiling; a 400-seat theater with a 70-foot fly tower; two black-box studio spaces with tunable, tilting wall tiles; and acoustically isolated artist/researcher work spaces.

Linked to the university's powerful supercomputer (the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, CCNI), which will enable complex modeling and visualization, EMPAC will be a platform for the Rensselaer campus, its academic partners, and visiting artists from around the globe to experiment in critical fields.

"EMPAC will enable human-scale interactive exploration of immersive/sensory environments," said John Kolb, vice president for information services and technology and chief information officer. "This will allow broad exploration in fields such as investigation of fluid dynamics, artificial intelligence, molecular design, financial modeling, nanotechnology, and gaming and simulation." via press release.

A main focus and major emphasis at EMPAC is the development and production of new works in the performing and media arts. Projects, residencies and productions at EMPAC will come from all domains of time-based arts, including but not limited to video, dance, music, theater, internet art, DVD productions, interactive installations, and multimedia art.



One of the more interesting currently commissioned projects is They Watch by Workspace Unlimited.

They Watch is an immersive installation that creates an ambiguous hybrid space where the virtual blends with the real, and where encounters with simulated characters challenge our ideas of presence, place, perception and identity. It takes place within an enclosed space formed by a large 360-degree projection screen. Upon entering, you see a projected, realistic simulation of the actual environment surrounding the installation, as if the screen weren’t there. But within this simulation are virtual characters (or “bots.”) Like you, they seem to be people who are exploring an art installation: they quietly wander around; you can hear them breathing, coughing, and shuffling their feet. But as the bots take notice of you, they come closer. When you move around in the space, they follow, keeping their eyes focused on you.

From this starting point, They Watch will evolve interactively as rules, conditions and scripts built into the underlying technology of the installation generate an unfolding scenario that culminates in a kind of revelation when the realistically rendered world disappears to expose a vast imaginary space. The installation places viewers in an uncanny place somewhere between the physical and virtual, where the act of observing and being observed arouses conflicting emotions: curiosity and self-consciousness, seduction and intrusion.

They Watch breaks new ground in sophisticated virtual and interactive experiences in several ways. Unlike most interactive installations, where interaction is either limited to a single “player” surrounded by passive observers, or is a vague collective experience, They Watch generates individual, parallel experiences for every viewer in the space. Individual actions move the scenario forward, while at the same time, the dynamics and number of viewers in the room also shape the experience. For example, the number of bots constantly changes depending on how many visitors are inside the space. (During quiet moments the bots walk through the installation from time to time to check for a human presence.) They Watch will make use of infrared tracking technology so that viewers are not encumbered by any kind of sensors or devices.

Rather than using high-end computer-assisted design tools to build their worlds, Workspace Unlimited has pioneered the appropriation and customized modification of the core software, or engine, of first-person shooter games such as Quake or Half Life. Workspace’s collaborative process often draws on the skills and support of the most accomplished artists and programmers in the gaming community.

The highly realistic architectural space and characters are generated in real time by the game engine and projected into a vast immersive setting: the projection screen is 16 feet high and creates an arena that is 40 feet in diameter. The end result for viewers is a visually rich and detailed but disorienting 3-dimensional space that is intensely personal yet can be shared with many others.

For the next three weekends, EMPAC will present a major festival of performances and installations by The Wooster Group, dumb type, Workspace Unlimited, Verdensteatret, Vox Vocal Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble, Per Tengstrand, Madlib, Cecil Taylor, Pauline Oliveros, Richard Siegal/The Bakery, Robert Normandeau, Fieldwork, Gamelan Galak Tika + Ensemble Robot, and others.

Posted on October 05, 2008 at 10:09 AM   |   Previous Entry   |   Next Entry   |   Entry List   |   Email Entry   |    Digg

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