In November 2020 an interdisciplinary group of students of St. Joost School of Art & Design, the study Communication and Multimedia Design in Breda and professional performers came together to gain knowledge and insight into how to involve the user in the artistic development. During the course of five days, they developed six prototypes for interactive installations.
Noud Heerkens provided the five-day exhibition workshop which stemmed from his research An Invitation to DANCE. Between 2016 and 2019 he developed the interactive installation that organically interlinks dance, cinema and technology. By looking, hearing, moving and associating the visitor can create his ‘own’ story in this installation: the audience becomes a co-author of the work. This concept formed the starting point for new media & performance exhibition workshop.
During the workshop, the participants were divided into six interdisciplinary groups in which they developed an interactive work. The prototype merged live performance with moving image technology to create new forms of embodiment and interaction. The resulting six performances were on display on the 6th of November throughout St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda.
The short documentary entitled THE COLLAB New Media & Performance shows the workshop process and the final installations.
THE COLLAB New Media & Performance
Symposium Interaction & Embodiment
The results of the workshop will be part of what will culminate in a small symposium entitled Interaction & Embodiment. During the symposium, the installation, An Invitation to DANCE will be exhibited to share the visual results of the research with students, teachers and participants in the symposium. In a lecture accompanying the exhibition, Noud Heerkens will discuss the artistic process that led to the installation and the role of the spectator in it.
Symposium and exhibition are planned for the beginning of April 2021.
‘The essence of the situated, cinematic experience of dance lies in the mental interaction where the public becomes co-author.’
Noud Heerkens is a researcher within the Situated Art and Design research group and a tutor at the Master Institute of Visual Cultures.
Living in cities developed around data and acting within the inscrutable structure of our techno-society demands art and design that can help understand how we relate to these rapidly changing surroundings and to reflect on that relationship. The research group Situated Art and Design responds to this exigency by fostering a situated turn in art and design through a diverse portfolio of interdisciplinary research projects in partnership with academic and cultural partners, as well as with government and industry.