An Interactive Installation
by Tim Diggins and Sarah Rubidge
work in progress

Soundscape by Nye Parry
Movements on video performed by Athina Vahla.

Passing Phases is an interactive installation featuring a series of choreographed bodily images displayed across several computer screens. Spectators, by virtue of their movements in the installation space, both enact and experience the piece simultaneously, combining the two roles of performer and spectator as they generate their own Passing Phases.

Passing Phases has been prototyped for two different events. We continue to develop the piece. We have plans for its realisation. What we are describing here is the most recent prototype (presented at Digital Dancing, Dance Umbrella, October 1996)

Passing Phases is built from several interrelating elements:

Images

Choreographed video images of hands, feet, arms, mouth structured into sequences.

Installation Space

Several computer monitors, mounted on plinths surrounding a carpeted area.

States

The temporal and spatial rhythm of the movement of the video images across the computer screens

Participants

Spectators become participants in the realisation of the piece as they interact with the installation environment

Interactivity

Participants movement across the installation space trigger the interactive programmes.

Performance

The movements of the participants in the installation space seen as a choreographed whole from outside the installation space

The Images
The choreographed sequences feature hands, wrists, arms, feet and the mouth. Each choreographed sequence is imbued with references and meanings. Some sequences are made up from small intimate gestures, many including touch, focusing on the physicality and emotionality of the corporeal body. The sequences have been broken down into a series of images which are then combined to create several short phrases of video material. Each has its own structured temporal rhythm.

Installation Space
Seven computer monitors are placed on tall plinths, which resemble the columns of classical Greek architecture in their proportions. They surround a carpeted area in a gallery space. Both carpet and the layout of the plinths define the participatory performance space. Images are displayed on the computer screens. These react to the movement of the participants across the installation space.

Participants
Participants in the interactive installation move back and forth across an area clearly defined by its carpeted covering, the plinths on which the display screens are set and lighting focused to emphasise the specificity of the space. Participants control the presence and absence of the images of the screens, as they move through the installation space. Sensations are experienced through the soles of the feet if participants walk across the carpet barefoot, introducing a sensuous corporeal element into their engagement with the installation.

States (Computer Generated 'Moods')
The video sequences/images loop repeatedly on one of the several display screens, mounted on plinths The loop continues until 'interrupted' by the activities of the performer/spectator. Their contact with the touch sensitive pads triggers a response in the computer and thus controls the presence and absence of the video images. As the interaction takes place the computer/s respond to the pattern of behavior, attempting to match the intensity of a number of performers' movements across the installation space by imposing an appropriate speed, rhythm, and sound accompaniment on the video images.

The interaction sets up computer generated moods (States) in the following manner. Individual computer generated systemic sequences have been designed to establish specific changes in the temporal structure of the progression of images on the display screens (their movement from one screen to another, and so on). These establish visual rhythms (the eye led from this screen to that as the images shift) which are related to the behavior patterns associated with certain emotional 'states' or moods. (e.g. apathy, introspection, alertness, obsession, mania). For example: Mania features extremely rapid, unpredictable changes in image and pattern of movement across the five computer monitors, Introspection features measured changes of image and slow movement across the monitors.

Each 'state' or mood takes on a slightly different resonance when applied to the different video images.

A soundscape is linked to each of these states, and also responds to interactive behaviors.

Interactivity
The different systemic sequences are set off by the pressures exerted on the touch-sensitive pads as participants move across the installation space. The computers are not responsive to single touches on the touch-sensitive pads, rather they respond to more complex patterns of movement (e.g. several pressures in one area of the space, pressure moving progressively from one pad to another at speed). Different types of responses are built into the piece to encourage participants to engage with the installation in such a way as to begin to explore the range of possibilities it offers, from the meditative to the excitational, and in doing so to form up their own ephemeral rendering of Passing Phases. In so doing they build up a dialogue with the computer, simultaneously controlling the behavior of the computer and having their movement guided by the computer activity.

Choreographing The Space
The visual dimension of Passing Phases can extend beyond the images themselves. The spectators, if the installation is viewed from a distance, become perceived as performers. The participants interactivity crossings of the space, along with the shifting images on the screen, (states) become a choreographed whole, with form, pace and its own aesthetic. Carefully designed lighting enhances this wider view of the installation. We hope that 'performers' will return to explore the installation more than once in any presentation, and that random behaviors will gradually become more ordered with a concomitant ordering of the images on the monitors. Participant/spectators will gradually come to know the work as they re-visit it for further exploration.

In addition, a predetermined set of floor patterns can be followed by spectators and/or performers as they traverse the space. These pre-choreographed sequences will generate certain repeatable effects on the screens, and thus a more stable rendering of Passing Phases.

Collaborators
Passing Phases is a step by step collaboration between artist Tim Diggins and choreographer Sarah Rubidge. Passing Phases was neither technology-led nor dance-led. At no time during the process has one or other of us assumed control of the concept. Rather the final concept and its realisation were developed by both of us throughout the working process.

History
We first presented a prototype of Passing Phases at the Split Screen Conference, Chichester, in July 1996. In response to seeing participants interact with the installation we made certain modifications. We edited the video images, developed the interactivity, and changed the architectural form of the installation. We presented the revised version at Digital Dancing, part of Dance Umbrella 96 at The Place Theatre, London, in October 1996.

Future Plans
Future plans for the installation include the exploration of different installation environments. These include:

• The enclosure of the plinths in a cube marked out by huge gauze screens. Video images can be simultaneously projected upon these screens. Lighting will also be used to create different sense of space within the installation. The spectator /performer will, in different lighting states, find themselves either enclosed in a room bounded by walls, or inhabiting a space within a larger space, the boundaries of which cannot be seen. The installation can be experienced from both inside the gauzes and outside the gauzes, allowing for different kinds of engagement.
• The installation as a dark, cave-like, space, with the computer monitors set in to the walls. In this space the images would appear and disappear within the blackness of the room, setting up an additional tension between environment and spectator.

We also have several other avenues to explore for the production version of the piece, including:

• Creative Changes: new video images, new choreographic ideas for performance, more and varied states
• Technological Changes: the use of overhead video camera in stead of touch sensitive pads as the trigger for interactivity
• Contextual Possibilities; we are looking for appropriate sites in which to present the installation. These could include warehouses, galleries, conference foyers, etc
• Funding/Sponsorship possibilities: we have already approached some of the appropriate funding sources and are also considering corporate sponsorship.