ROCK/STAR Vol.1
Mixed-reality Audiovisual Dance Performance
ROCK/STAR Vol.1 is a mixed reality audiovisual dance performance, where a virtual avatar, animated in real-time by a human performer, explores and interacts with the virtual cave environment through movement and choreography. The performance engages with the themes of identity at the intersection of digital and physical worlds, as well as mechanisms of empathy between physical and digital entities. Inspired by post-humanist and new materialist theories we question what we consider to be real or what we perceive as reality, who and what is worthy of empathy and what can we as humans empathize with and experience. ROCK/STAR Vol.1 was made in collaboration between Erika Rustamova (creative technologist), Johan Högsten (choreographer), and Henia Nikkilä (sound designer) in winter/spring 2023 as a part of Rustamova’s artistic research. Please find more detailed information about our working group here. Since its premiere in Otaniemi in May 2023, the piece has been performed five times and featured in the programmes of several Finnish festivals, including Ääniaalto (2023), Urban Apa (2024), Tanssivirtaa Tampereella (2024), and the Oulu Music Video Festival (2024).
Elements constituting the performance are sound, choreography, projection background with a dynamic and responsive virtual world, and 3D character that replicates the movement of human performer in real time through advanced motion capture technology. The performance entails a performer who is performing through dance and movement and another performer who is performing through controlling the camera, lighting, and visual effects in the virtual world inside of the game engine. Both performing forces include rehearsed and preplanned elements as well as a great deal of improvisation, thus making each of the shows unique and responsive to the current moment in time.
