final deliverables

Poster:

[Download .PDF with Full Resolution]

Final Prototype Video:

Entos Prototype Semester #1 from Entos on Vimeo.

Until next semester!

Research

"a human being goes through all experiences of varying intensity, but these processes do not differ in essence from other process that deploy forces in magnetic fields, acoustic waves or heat waves. Human experience, with all its gradations of temperature, spasms of pain and orgasms, is of essentially the same nature as other physical processes, difficult to represent in language, and only measurable by gradations of the sort indicated by thermometers and barometers, an 'exposition' of anger, a 'wave' of shame, a 'flood' of tears, a 'stream' of pleasure.¹"

"Theatre was no longer conceived as an institution where presentation and interpretation were governed and produced by a series of signs coded and transmitted in a fixed manner... ¹"

Important thought here about physicality or energy of the performer. It can be used to engage the audience in more than one way. Though Entos tries to mimic one performer's relation to technology with the audience's relation to their controller, the performance also needs to rely on communication or energy transmission from performer to audience. Audience can't be allowed to act a spectator but needs direct emotional attachment to the performers. Thus to keep channelling this affect the hero of the narrative is left ambiguous. The audience must decide who is the hero? Will the character fall into a tragedy or comedy?

"We all know, do we not, that this is a major difference between the plots of Greek tragedies and those of most modern dramas: in Greek tragedy the audience knew from the start what was going to happen by the end. And it presumably follows from that that the key events of the plot were fixed in advance and unalterable... ²"

This unalterable narrative seems very machinelike, like it was made to serve it's purpose. When developing Entos, everyone on the team wanted to explore Human to Technology relationship. One of the most common arguments about the topic was the idea that humans lose their identity to technology, and thus the determinant factor for the human was a technological one. There are many more arguments to the relationship, but we wanted to focus on identity. Entos was developed with a twist, situations must work in a certain reverse, there must not be a singular ending, but at the same time necessary to display technology or to give it voice within an argument that is wholly biased towards humans.

"Fundamentally, a human person is a desiring being, a cluster of psychic-energetic processes that produce desire, a desire that continuously produces products, these being biological (like hormones), neurological (like emotions) and subjective reflections (like: 'I feel this?'). Hence the idea of equating human productivity with machines: desire functions as a machine and all partial machines that constitute the human person are interconnected and can at any moment change their interaction.¹"

This is a interesting field to explore, since it allows us to compare humans to technology. This is one reason why there is a human playing a 'Technology'; machine character. It allows the use of 'desire' as a device to not only introduce attraction for human to technology but also explores the idea of 'desire' and whether it is human feeling once technology were to take over human identity. In which case what is still keeping the human attached to technology?

Reference

1. Hall, E., & Harrop, S. (2010). Does a Deleuzean Philosophy of Radical Physicality Lead to the 'Death of Tragedy'? Some Thoughts on the Dismissal of the Climactic Orientation of Greek Tragedy. Theorising performance: Greek drama, cultural history and critical practice (pp. 123-136). London: Duckworth.

2. Sommerstein, A. H. (2010). 'They all knew how it was going to end': tragedy, myth and the spectator. The tangled ways of Zeus: and other studies in and around Greek tragedy(pp. 203-223). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Use Case Scenario

Use Case 1: Audience Interaction
Primary Actor: Audience
Input: Audience member uses their controller to choose the performer whom they feel deserves more support.
Output Sound: The sound fades from either a more natural composition; means audience preference for human, to a trance heavy sound; meaning audience preference for technology.
Output Light: The lights fade from performer to performer, illuminating the human or technology over the other, or both.
Output Backdrop: The backdrop shifts from either looking natural or digitized depending on who the audience supports.

Use Case 2: Environment Cues
Primary Actor: Audience + Performers representing Human and Technology
Input: System Environment shifts direction between human and technology.
Output: Performers take these environment shift and try to draw support from the audience by being more energetic, pleading to the audience for support.

Use Case 3: Performer Interaction
Primary Actor: Performers representing Human and Technology + Audience
Input: Performer pleads for attention.
Output: Audience sees the shift in performer energy as a calling for more support. The audience is put at a dilemma whether to support the performer or go on with the performance.

midterm presentation

403 midterm presentation on Prezi

the story

After looking through each other's research notes, it wasn't easy to determine how we would then come up with the final concept. What we learned, though, is that we must trust the process of conceptualizing as it changes and evolves.. even if we feel like we don't know where we're going ...

---

We decided to start where we all agree upon - that is, we were all interested in creating a performance / installation piece.

After discussing the topics we explored, we discovered elements of a love/hate relationship, similar to that of a dating or marriage relationship between two human beings. In pursuit of illustrating this.. we envisioned a duet between two dancers.

Male - masculine, robust agent representing technology who is confined at first by the female - presentation of creativity and the "human" side...

The human agent uses technology agent, as humans use technology, as a tool, an extension of herself, to enable her to do actions she cannot perform on her own...

Even though the technology agent is able to perform supernaturally, it is the human who empowers him. She is ultimately the creativity, the intelligence, the mind, the source behind his actions...

The more she 'uses' him, the more she becomes attached to abilities that technology is able to give her  ...

Eventually, via her invitations, he is slowly integrated into her identity, becoming fully present in her world ...

A synchronized duet begins between the two - a chaos, a mixture of the sides ...

Is there a point of reconciliation? .. this is determined by the audience.

focussing in + researching

After discussing the many related concepts, we decided to narrow down by everyone choosing a desired concept they'd like to look further into. Our goal is to come together during the next meeting to find a counterpoint concept, a word, an umbrella theme where all of these ideas can fit under.

Nadya: Splitting of Reality, and the point of reconciliation between them.
Nicolas: Silence + Infinity
Kitty: Addiction + Obsession
Alannah: Perception + Scopophilia
Francesca: Addiction + Infinity

Each of us conducted research individually on our chosen topics and posted the information onto our public database (sakai).

Next steps: Meet next week with everyone's research posted; finalize concept.

reel of thoughts

During our initial meetings, we explored different topics of interests and questions. One often lead to another, thus creating a rich cloud of potential concepts ...

we were interested in exploring the question, "what is the relationship between self & technology?"

... technology is meant to be a tool, an extension of our abilities (as a telescope is an extension of our eyes, earphones an extension of our ears) ...

... technology serves us, yet there is an addictive quality - so does it serve us, or do we serve it?...

... we are able to become, to take on a different identity via technology (facebook/games) ...

... we start to develop several identities - identity in reality, identity in the virtual world ...

... a way of escape? suppression of fear, avoidance of confrontation, running from reality ...

... an escape from anxiety, perhaps - to create an identity that is under one's control ...

... technology allows one to be whoever they want to be (superhero, superstar, supermodel)...

... a disconnect from reality ...

... an inner struggle between presence in the real world and the virtual world ...

... perhaps a search of true identity between the two ...

... is it possible to be fully present in both identities, in both worlds? ...

... technology is digital, numerical, finite - reality is analogical, infinite ...

... infinity -- silence ...

... http://suicidemachine.org/ a way of completely removing one's virtual identity/presence ...

... technophilia/technophobia ...

... in the end, it is about an inner struggle ...

... a tension within ...

... (not about me vs. technology) but a search, a battle of identities within the self ...

... is there a point of reconciliation? ...