Kristina, Presentation 1, Session 2 4 August 2010

Project Name: Jeu Kumite Concept: Jeu Kumite is a performative-interactive digital media work that investigates the digital representation of kumite (or sparring) within the martial art of karate. The work

addresses the poetic narrative of pressure and control within kumite. It will create a feedback system that will visually and sonically illustrate in real-time the unseen dialogue

of the relationship of two performers during kumite. The work aims to enlighten audiences to the subtleties about combative interaction.

My investigation will reflect on the use of technology as prosthesis in digital performance and “what kind of rules might pertain in a landscape dominated by change and by

transformation.” (Munster, 2006) As the final performance strips bare the performative qualities of kumite, engaging the audience in a sensual experience of kumite from

within; the paper will similarly discuss the synthesis of this new visual and sonic expression.

Visual Metaphor: Spatial Expressivity The ecological space inhabited by an animal expresses, through the arrangement of surface layouts, the capacities it has to affect, and be affected by, the animal. To

put this differently, solid objects present an animal with opaque surfaces the layout of which supplies it with opportunities and risks: a cluttered space supplies a walking

animal with the possibility of locomotion in only some directions, those exhibiting openings or passages, but not in others; the edge of a cliff supplies a walking animal

with a risk, the risk of falling, and the sharp edges of the rocks below, the risk of piercing its flesh; a layout of rigid surfaces facing inward, like a hole on the side of a mountain, supplies an animal with a place to hide, either to escape from a predator or, on the contrary, to conceal its presence from its unsuspecting prey. These

spatial capacities to affect and be affected are fully objective: the animal may perceive them incorrectly and miss an opportunity or run an unnecessary risk.

Questions that arose from my design rationale: 1 – In what way do I imagine the three states of determination, desperation and vulnerability to influence the appearance of the chasm? 2 – Would I be showing which player is ‘determined’ and which one is ‘desperate’ How can I show the different states of the player in/ through the chasm? 3 – Do I imagine the chasm to ‘evolve’ during the fight (that is, change shape)? Revised concept:

Space, seemingly shorn of its metaphysical elaborations, becomes a creation of and for the subject and similarly the subject is a creation of and for the space… Space as a double for this subject, becomes a canvas upon which this subject expresses and objectifies itself, and thereby produces itself and comes to know itself. … In other words, the subject casts its image into space and sees itself in space thereby becoming both the object and subject of knowledge. (Sue Best, Space for the Subject)

Inspiration for coding:

“Pollen” by Kyle McDonald “Perlin Noise Particle” by Daan Van Hasselt

“Harmony Sketch Remake” by Mitchell Whitelaw

Experiments in Processing:

Schedule…