Bodyscape
Bodyscape (2020) was a piece that I helped with dramaturgy and designed interactive media. It was a digital dance performance that was performed at ShenZhen Binnial Theater Festive (2020). It combined body language with computing and technology.
About
When we look at our history, in fact, there are already many perspectives on discussing the impacts of technology on human society, but it is difficult to find a perspective that shows us how exactly the increasing technology affects our bodies. This performance is a retrospective exhibition that reflects the developing feelings of the body from the industrial age to present.
Synopsis
Act I
In the beginning, several dancers are covered in black black cloth, which corresponds to the chaotic period before the industrial era when our bodies have not been standardized and disciplined.
Act II
The second scene invites the audience to the digital age. We used a lot of repeated movements, which represent the process of manufacture. The development of technology released us from farming, but at the same time we were also manipulated by the machine.
Act III
At the end, all the dancers were standing behind the fabric. It is a metaphor of our own relationship with technology in the present. Through this piece, we tried to discuss while we utilizing the technology, it’s also dominating us. Through the body's sensations to different ages, we tried to draw the entire historical development of technology.
New Media Art
The new media art participated in the last part, which is a representation of the digital age. Technology and body imitate and dominate. We utilized generated adversarial networks to analyze 10,000 body images, including primitive fighting, ballet, contemporary dance, boxing, martial arts, etc. To visualize the idea, we used motion capture technology to redefine dancers’ movements.
