Dance meets AI at this virtual reality installation – Times of India

The meeting of tradition and technology was the highlight of week three of the Attakkalari India Biennial, a Transglocal Community Arts Engagement Initiative that has more than 12 countries taking part.CyberBallet by Berlin-based theatre collective, CyberRuber, is a virtual reality (VR) interactive installation, which takes viewers on an immersive journey of movement and dance from the point of view of artificial intelligence.Held in 25-minute sessions, each with four participants, this stand-alone VR experience was conceptualised and produced by Marcel Karnapke and Bjrn Lengers in collaboration with Karlsruhe-based dance company, Badisches Staatsballett.CyberBallet explores what it means to be human, to be able to have a body and move around in a physical space. The idea for this production was conceived in 2019. When the ballet company approached us for a collaboration, we were already in the process of thinking about AI and what it might mean in the field of art, especially the performing arts. So, we made an attempt to connect the two fields and explored the question of how a machine perceives movement, says Lengers.

To put the piece together, Karnapke and Lengers captured the movements of professional dancers, processed the data through machine-learning algorithms, and transferred them onto an interactive 3D stage. As a viewer, one is free to merely watch or perform along.

Talking of the process of putting this together, Lengers says, We wanted to capture what the dancers are doing. At first, we recorded the traditional two-dimensional video and then used 360-degree and 180-degree 3D cameras to record the movements of the dance ensemble in a prepared space. We also used a motion capture suit, which has over 19 little sensors that can be attached to the limbs.

Choreographed by German-Brazilian choreographer Ronni Maciel, the production features elevating music by Israeli composer Micha Kaplan.

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Dance meets AI at this virtual reality installation - Times of India