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Responding to the theme of Subtle Technologies Symposium "Ground", which explores connections between new technologies and architectural practices, this presentation aims to introduce IntelligentCITY. This is a long-term international research project which uses choreographic practices in dialogue with interactive technologies to transform and accentuate the perception of everyday built environments by live audiences who are also the regular users of such environments. IntelligentCITY is a collaboration of London-based choreographer/video artist Sophia Lycouris, American choreographer/multimedia artist Yacov Sharir and London-based Dutch multimedia composer Stan Wijnans, who are supported by a team of international collaborators with specialist technical skills.

The technologies employed in IntelligentCITY aim to translate the sonic and movement reactions of the audience into direct digital input which trigger visual, sonic and dynamic transformations of the space, manifested through the use of multiple video screenings and surround sound. In this way, the presence and reactions of the audience generates a virtual space which unfolds as part of an entirely physical space - a public building. The application of the selected technologies stimulates a ‘re-newed’ perception of both the static and fluid architecture of the selected sites and invites the audience/participants to navigate a ‘re-created’ manifestation of these spaces.

People use everyday built environments for various agreed purposes (ex. shopping in shopping centres, waiting in train stations, eating in restaurants and so on), they move, speak and perform various actions in order to fulfil their needs. The ways in which these 'events' are taking place are defined by the nature and limitations of these environments, the character of their architecture. The ways in which people perceive the relevance of these environments in their everyday lives is affected by their physical as well as emotional relationship to these environments, personal stories, memories which are superimposed, attached, fused, inserted, adapted, negotiated with the structure, materials, physical parameters and qualities of these architectures.

Architecture and choreography both engage with methodologies which address and develop spatial structures. This commonality is particularly crucial in the creative research of choreographers Sophia Lycouris and Yacov Sharir, who are both members of the main collaborative team of IntelligentCITY project. Sophia Lycouris explores the potential of 'choreographic environments', dynamic spaces within which the viewers can circulate freely and physically experience the impact of various types of movement (including structured movement of human bodies, as well as movement of sound and images). Her primary interest in the continuous development of IntelligentCITY project is to capitalise on the relationship between the architectural structures of the buildings within which the project takes place and the hybrid choreography of bodies, images and sounds. Yacov Sharir researches the architecture of virtual environments and the potential of real-time manipulation of both virtual and physical environments through the use of wireless wearable computers. This presentation will be structured as a dialogue between the different perspectives of two choreographers framed by their common experience in live performance strategies.

Biographies

Sophia Lycouris
Sophia Lycouris is a London-based dance/video artist, company director and senior researcher. She holds an Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Fellowship in Creative and Performing Arts to research interdisciplinary choreography at The Nottingham Trent University (UK). She is artistic director of KUNSTWERK-BLEND interdisciplinary company (www.kunstwerk-blend.co.uk).

Yacov Sharir
Professor Sharir is a choreographer/multimedia artist based in Texas (USA). He researches virtual environments, cyberspace and computerized choreography and has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and Banff Center for the Arts. He is the founder of the American Deaf Dance Company and the Sharir Dance Works.