Flavia Sparacino
Writer/Designer

Glorianna Davenport
Research Supervisor

Interactive performance can grow to generate new emergent forms of expression in which human performance is augmented and highlighted by digital life-like expressive creatures.

We are working towards live performances in which human actors (or dancers) and digital media objects share the stage in a theater of situations that invites active participation by the public. Our model for interactive performance is close to the street theater, the mimes world and the improvisational theater in general.

In introducing Media Creatures to live performance we converge the quest to make life-like virtual characters, explorations in dynamic graphics and expressive typography, and technologies which can track the human body.

To the best of our knowledge, Media Creatures roam in an Open Inventor environment, although they will soon be quelled by decaffeinated Java.

Sparacino F; Davenport G; Pentland A (2000). Media in performance: Interactive spaces for dance, theater, circus, and museum exhibits IBM Systems Journal, vol.39, no.3-4, 2000, pp.479-510. Sparacino F; Davenport G; Pentland A (2000). Wearable Cinema/Wearable City: bridging physical and virtual spaces through wearable computing IMAGINA 2000, invited presentation, Monte Carlo, January 31st-February 3rd 2000. Sparacino F; Larson K; MacNeil R; Davenport G; Pentland A (1999). Technologies and methods for interactive exhibit design: from wireless object and body tracking to wearable computers International Conference on Hypertext and Interactive Museums, ICHIM 99, Washington, DC. Sept. 22-26, 1999. F. Sparacino; DeVaul R; Wren C; MacNeil R; Davenport G; Pentland A (1999). City of News SIGGRAPH 99, Visual Proceedings, Emerging Technologies, Los Angeles, August 8-13, 1999. Sparacino F; Davenport G; Pentland A (1999). Media actors: characters in search of an author Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems. IEEE Comput. Soc. Part vol.2, 1999, pp.439-46 vol.2. Sparacino F; Wren C; Davenport G; Pentland A (1999). Augmented Performance in Dance and Theater International Dance and Technology 99 (IDAT99), at Arizona State University, Feb. 25-28, 1999. Sparacino F; Oliver N; Pentland A; Davenport G (1997). Responsive Portraits The Eighth International Symposium on Electronic Art, Chicago, IL, September 1997. Sparacino F; Wren C; Davenport G; Pentland A (1999). Digital Circus: a computer-vision based interactive Virtual Studio IMAGINA, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 18-20th January 1999. Davenport G; Agamanolis S; Bradley B; Sparacino F (1997). Encounters in DreamWorld: A Work in Progress. Presented at Consciousness Reframed, 1st International CAiiA Research Conference, University of Wales College, Newport, Wales, July 1997. Sparacino F (1997) DirectIVE: Choreographing Media for Interactive Virtual Environments MIT MS Thesis. Sparacino F; Pentland A; Davenport G; et al. (1997). City of News Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria. Wren C; Sparacino F (1997). Perceptive Spaces for Performance and Entertainment: Untethered Interaction using Computer Vision and Audition Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI) Journal, March. Sparacino F; Hall K; Wren C; Davenport, G; Pentland A (1997). Improvisational Theater Space The Sixth Biennal Symposium for Arts and Technology, Connecticut College, New London, CT, February 27 - March 2, 1997. Sparacino F; Pentland A; Davenport G (1997). Wearable Performance Digest of Papers. First International Symposium on Wearable Computers (Cat. No.97TB100199). IEEE Comput. Soc. 1997, pp.181-2. Sparacino F; Wren C; Davenport G; Pentland A (1995). HyperPlex: a World of 3D Interactive Digital Movies IJCAI'95 Workshop on Entertainment and AI/Alife, Montreal, August.