Creativity, Arts and Enaction

Introduction

The global aim of this research direction is to demonstrate concretely the contemporary historical link between Enaction and contemporary Computer Arts.

Arts and Creativity is a domain in which the concept of Enaction and the technology of Enactive Interfaces are very innovative and promising, in the lightening of historical evolution that rehabilitate gestures and actions in artistic processes and artworks.

Since the XIX century industrial revolution, creation activity in arts has been mainly considered as an abstract activity, starting the clear separation between composer and instrumentalists in Music, designers and producers in fine arts, or choreographers and dancers in choreographic arts. At the beginning of the use of computer in arts (middle of the sixties), the main stream of theories and uses focused on the conquest of “immateriality” allowed by computer. Keywords were: “to overcome the limit of the matter”, “to reach a pure thinking of musical cues”, “Music of mind”, “Abstraction for visual cues”, “breaking the real”, etc.

Recently, about fifteen years ago, after the relative failure of these quite radical theories, and under the recent technological propositions of interactivity allowing the computers to be more and more adapted to the human senses and action, arts became more and more interactive. The concept of “instrumentality” is progressively re-introduced. The role of “gesture” is being rehabilitated, not only to produce sensorial predefined events but to properly create artistic qualities. Simultaneously, the role of the “instrument” as a tangible object able to feed and steer the creative process by imposing constraints and of the “instrument trade” was rehabilitated against the “free constraint approaches”.

Such theoretical shift is totally in adequacy with the concept of Enaction. More, Arts is probably the realm (beside biology), in which high-level media of communication and of cultural data are produced by means of closed-loop sensori-motor interaction. Indeed, Arts and Culture are main human activities that are fed by the concept of Enaction and of Enactive Knowledge.

Nowadays, most of contemporary Arts and Enactive approaches integrate:

• Closed interaction between performers and instruments (intimacy, embodiment)
• Closed interaction between several sensory modalities
• Closed dynamic interactions between performers (dynamics, embodiment)
• Closed relation between instrument designers, artists, and performers.

Consequently, Enactive approach is of an higher importance in designing new instruments and new societal situations.

Action and Interaction are at the gravity centre of the concept of Enaction. They are also a main evolution in contemporary arts, shifting from “computer as enhancing immateriality” to “rehabilitation of performance". Not surprisingly, the main contemporary approaches in Computer and Arts are related to gesture and to the role of gesture in artistic and expressive processes.

Three activities have been performed in 2006:

• Drawing a complete picture of the different approaches related to the role of action in arts. This has been done by identifying the cardinal axis of the different conceptual approaches and technological developments paving the domain of Computer and Arts under the umbrella of the concept of Enaction.
• Stimulating the conceptual and technological exchange between the partners of the network in order to sketch the ways of cooperation between exemplary relevant approaches. In order to support and start these exchanges, a common format has been designed to structure and encode the basic gesture data that are used by each approach.
• Validating the concept of Enaction in Arts through grand public demos and artworks and act for its acceptance and penetration. This will be achieved by implementing demos and artworks to be presented in Enaction_in_Arts sessions within the Enactive 07 conference.

Activity 1: Cardinal axis of Enactive conceptual and technological approaches in Creativity and Arts

Four cardinal axis have been identified to position the main conceptual and theoretical approaches:

1. The action “Mapping concept” and its correlated computer processes based on sensors to acquire actions and gestures, signal-based computer sound synthesis for auditory feedbacks, geometrically-based motion synthesis for visual feedbacks Figure 1 shows works performed at SPCL Mc Gill, ULUND and Queen University of Bristol and DIST Genova.

1. The gesture “Instrumental concept” and its correlated computer processes based on force feedback devices and physically-based models for auditory and visual feedbacks, and the physically-based gesture simulation. Figure 2 shows works performed at INP-G, QUB and ULUND.

1. The action and gesture analysis processes and the correlated computer processes of reconstruction including gestures features recognition. Figure 3 shows works done at SPCL Mc Gill (Canada), EPFL (Switzerland), DIST (Italy), UM1 (France). Other research on the analysis of the role of postural dynamics in music performance and the use of optical kinematics for understanding perception of musical performances from optical kinematics have been made commonly by SPCL Mc Gill (Canada), UM1 (France), HFRL (USA).

Activity 2: Design of a Common Gesture format

Gesture and motion data correspond with a “hub” in Enactive Person-World Computerized Mediated Interaction, and Enactive artistic processes. Within the Network, they are at the central place in systems to design and control computer models and processes for sounds and music, for motions and animations, for choreographic design, simulation and notations, etc.
However, most research centres and software that deal with gesture and motion data do not use a well-designed, well-chosen, possibly shared format. Only a few works has dealt so far with the question of formats to structure and encode gesture-related signals. The field “structuring and encoding of gesture-related data” is still in its infancy.

Consequently, the design of a common format to structure and encode gesture-related data, called GMS for Gesture and Motion signal, have been launched. This format will allow starting exchanges gesture signal data over the partners. The design was conducted having in mind that gesture is a “hub” in the artistic enactive process, but also that it should be usable for the various approaches, covering all the fields of gesture analysis – synthesis and simulation techniques.

Figure 4. Morphological and Dimensional versatility of gesture

The designed GMS format takes into account :

1. the multidimensionality of the gestures: from vectors of scalars to 6D data for each moving point (Figure 4 from 1 to 9)
2. the variability in frequency bandwidth and temporal sampling: from some Hz (3) to some KHz (Figure 4-2, 4-8),
3. the versatility of the gesture organization (Figure 4-4, 4-5, 4-10) etc.

It is compatible with any motions signals, whatever their origin is: human bodies, manipulated instrument, simulated objects, or motion capture techniques, etc.

The first version of the GMS format has been finalized, and made available under the GPL licence. An Internet homepage has been uploaded in January, 2007 to host the format specification and an open-source dedicated library (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The GMS format homepage – http://acroe.imag.fr/gms

Activity 3: Setup of the Enaction_in_Arts event, 2007

Seizing the opportunity of its welcome to Grenoble, an historical place in France for innovation in Arts, the 4th International Conference on Enactive Interfaces Enactive 07, planned in November, 19-22, 2007, will be exceptionally extended by a scientific and artistic event called Enaction_in_Arts.

Our third major activities concerns the preparation of the Enaction_in_Arts event. These corresponds with:

1. setting up of call for Art Work and its corresponding Selection Comity
2. launching various of collaborative artworks over the partners, that will be presented during the event
3. command various dedicated art work to high level international artists
4. set up of the shape of the event, and organizing it (budget, planning, spaces, etc.).

The Enaction_in_Arts event will investigate the shifts that the concept of Enaction causes in Arts and Culture in the context of Information Society Technologies, at the philosophical, technological and artistic levels, as discussed in the Introduction of this chapter. It aims at demonstrating by a sensorial and interactive appraisal the tight link between the concept of Enaction and Arts & Creativity. It will be made accessible to grand public.

Enaction_in_Arts will be innovative in its shape. It will propose:

1. high level artistic works
2. experimental works, proposed by partners or by young artists from schools of Arts
3. hybrid scientific-artistic demos and presentations.

Enaction_in_Arts will be composed of dedicated sessions during Enactive/07. These are:

Symposiums

Figure Minatec: Special plenary invited talks will focus on concepts in Enaction and Arts.
They will take place on the site of the 4th conference on Enactive Interfaces, in the just-opened Atrium of the national Research Center Minatec

Ateliers

Merged with scientific demos, special presentations will be dedicated to Art – Science – Technology. They will take a new form called "Experimental Open Spaces", in which participants will have the opportunity to experiment Computer Arts Tools and demos in conjunction with the plenary talks and the artworks presentations, assisted by techno-artists.

Artwork-Lectures

A counterpart to “posters presentations” in scientific conferences, “Artwork-Lectures” are talks given by artists whose work has been selected for Enaction_in_Arts. They will be the place for a detailed presentation of artistic approach and for debates with participants.

Exhibitions and Concerts

Concerts and performance shows will take place in the prestigious Maison de la Culture MC2 (left picture), and art installations will be exhibited in the historical Site de la Bastille, above the city (see picture)

For more details and updated information on the Enaction_in_Arts event, visit the Enactive/07 webstite on http://enactive2007.org/ .