Presenter: Norah Zuniga Shaw

Click to view.Image: Synchronous Objects

This presentation will introduce the interactive web project, Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced. Focusing on Forsythe’s complex ensemble dance One Flat Thing, reproduced, this project presents an original collection of screen-based visualizations (video, digital artwork, animation, and interactive graphics) that reveal interlocking systems of organization in the choreography. Synchronous Objects aims to appeal to a broad public from diverse fields including but not limited to dance. Forsythe explains, “The project starts from the recognition that choreography is an organizational practice that employs fundamental creative strategies relevant to many other domains.”

The project is the result of a collaboration between The Forsythe Company, based in Germany, and researchers at The Ohio State University from design, dance, computer science, geography, statistics and architecture who work together at OSU’s Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). Creative Directors William Forsythe, Maria Palazzi (ACCAD/Department of Design), and Norah Zuniga Shaw (ACCAD/Department of Dance) describe the research as a process in which choreographic ideas are the source of information for the composition of unique visual objects. These objects enable the ideas in the choreography to be quickly grasped in their entirety and suggest new interpretations.

“This process of transformation from a dance to a choreographic object requires cross-disciplinary collaboration, and in our community at ACCAD we have found that thinking in this way makes space for new connections between art and science, practice and theory,” explains Zuniga Shaw. Adds Palazzi: “Animation is the core expressive technique that articulates Forsythe’s choreographic intention to the viewer. Artists and scientists working collaboratively on this project used animation techniques such as traditional keyframing, algorithmic and generative approaches to create animation and interactive experiences that reveal Forsythe’s strategies and re-imagine what this dance can look like. These animated manifestations (traces, scores, maps) visualize information in new ways, as an evolving viable research space and as a departure point for conversation and further discussion.”

See also:
Session: Visualizing Structure
Session: One Flat Thing Workshop
Synchronous Objects Project Site
Synchronous Objects Blog