The Second Coming
This experimental narrative utilizes portrait-driven imagery and infrared color techniques to transform and inspire our landscape.
What is possible when we [the Collective] finally refuse to accept philosophical desolations such as Machiavellian competition or religious fear mongering? How do we evolve? What of nature? And how do we maintain hope amid seemingly endless catastrophes?
Starring: Dustin Yu, Ty Wilkinson, Eden Evans
Created, Directed, Edited by Eden Evans
2023
Letters Unsent, Words Unspoken
Choreography and Performance by Kenzie Barnickle
Created, Directed, and Edited by Eden Evans
2022
Letters Unsent, Words Unspoken is an interactive media and dance narrative influenced by the experience of loss and healing. The piece is loosely structured into sections meant to identify with the stages of grief–each with its unique character of sound, movement, and visual design.
The development of this piece spurred from my work and research with the TRELS Summer Research Program during the summer of 2021. My thesis at this point involved examining codified narratives in dance performance in an attempt to analyze and quantify movement through computer vision techniques and procedurally generated computer graphics. This period of development involved studying the semiotics of dance and movement, understanding concepts such as Labanotation and Laban Movement Analysis, and using pose estimation to classify movement and record skeletal key point data from a moving figure. The current stage of my work uses pose estimation and keypoint detection to track movement and classify poses in real time, from which a procedurally generated particle system is created and manipulated in Max/MSP according to the performer’s movement and the particular scene of the narrative. The work flow for this project begins with live camera feed, which is translated into keypoint and classification data using a model I trained in Google’s Teachable Machine. The data is then routed into a Max/MSP patch which generates the projected particle system behind the dancer as seen in the recorded performance.
As much as my work was devoted to creating a piece of performance art, it was also an experiment in testing methods to emulate highly complex and typically expensive performance technologies and techniques. My inspiration for integrating movement and interactive procedural visuals stems from the incredible hybrid artworks produced by Troika Ranch - a performance ensemble with the expertise and access to equipment, software, and spaces designed and optimized for media and movement integration. Creating this piece with free, educational tools and softwares such as Teachable Machine offers a means to more accessible and affordable methods of reproducing these complex performance environments for a broader spectrum of artists and performers.
I am incredibly proud of the learning, discovery, and collaboration that involved making this piece; and the opportunity to return to a live performance setting after two years of isolation and remote work meant so much to me. The debut of this project for my senior thesis is the beginning of an ongoing exploration into these techniques, questions, and ideas in my process as an artist, and I am excited to continue to rework and refine these concepts for future iterations. Special thank you to my professors Amy Alexander and Tom Erbe for their help and guidance during this process, Karen Makhoul for starting this journey with me, and Kenzie Barnickle for her talent and choreographic vision in helping me realize this performance.
Live Audio/Visual Performance
2021
Live Visuals mixed on Resolume and projected by Emma Thomas
Live sound design mixed on Serato DJ board by Zach Kravitz and Eden Evans
Filmed by Justin Marquez
Medicine
2019
Choreography and Performance by Andres Lagang
Filmed and Edited by Eden Evans
VISUAL FEEDBACK Works
Anamnesis
2021
Visual design: produced using analogue visual feedback loops.
Sound design: vocals recorded using contact microphones adhered to skin.
untitled
2022
Digital feedback experiments created using Vimix [open source software property of @brunoherbelin on Github]
Audio design recorded with piezo mics and processing in Ableton Live
Reel: Urban Space Epics
In 2021, I had the privilege of assisting Darrel Jonsson with his permanent residency work at MeetFactory, a non-profit contemporary arts center in Prague. There, I created and edited visuals, streamlined studio workflow, and improvised instrumentation for live performances.
“Urban Space Epics evolved out of a series of projects and adventures, including work with psychedelic light show artists, 20th century composers, and street music in North Africa and Spain… As a multimedia performance the emphasis is on dynamics that amplify the improvisational elements of ancient epic narrative form with real-time manipulated film, video, slide projections and live music.”
Website: https://urbanspaceepics.com/
Created by Darrell Jonsson and Eden Evans
Selection of visuals cut and edited by Eden Evans
Song: Fireprayer by Arca