Body as Reservoir of Secrets, DEMS Cycle 2

For cycle 2, the idea started to take shape in a more concrete manner. I started to develop the costume using coveralls bought on amazon which I tailored myself for a better fit.

The following feature extraction functionalities were in the costume-

1. On the coveralls I stitched on some patches with dark pieces of digitally printed fabric. This increases the overall contrast of the figure, which helps the eyes++ actor and webcam track object movements better.
2. A contact microphone was housed in the chest pocket running up to my neck. An additional elastic band was devised to apply pressure and hold the contact microphone in place.
3. Two iphone Gyroscopes were housed within blue/purple pockets with elastic openings on the arm and calf of the custom.
4. A microphone was blown into whenever a scene change was desired, as a means of activating breath.

Challenges/Feedback

• Composition looked too busy given that more than 10 variables were being fed into isadora.
• My computer’s graphics card seems to be struggling and isadora crashes easily.
• A classmate mentioned that the costume appeared like an astronaut, which is not what I intended.
• I had a headache after wearing the neck piece with the contact mic for 20 minutes because it was restricting bloodflow.

Observations/On-going curiosities

• The class seems to be very interested to map/figure out which visual element was coupled with the various sensors.
• The class seems to be interested view the live generated graphics as a video piece, when I had intended the graphics primarily to be viewed as prints. I am open to the possibility of the video being screened alongside the painting performance.