“By using new technology to allow our performers to become real-time creators, and by asking our audience to be present to their on-the-fly artistry, we ensure that each performance of a work is absolutely unrepeatable, which may be the boldest move of all.”
Mark Coniglio
Microsoft/MODE Studios, Spring 2009: I served as a computer vision consultant for Seattle-based MODE Studios, working with a team of artists to design and build original interactive artworks for four new buildings on the Microsoft campus. I developed a system to capture data from thermal cameras, extract relevant features, and format and send messages to the audiovisual control system. I researched and coded novel algorithms in C and C++, partly based on the OpenCV library, and built a user interface for control technicians in the Max/MSP/Jitter environment.
Microsoft Interactive Installation from MODE Studios on Vimeo.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2005-2007: I designed several immersive multimedia user experiences for the museum’s NIGHTS series, including:
• “Dionysian Feast” (scenic design including food, costume design, lighting, live band, video projection, casting, acting) – actors onstage combined with a band below to simulate a Dionysian ritual; audience participation encouraged via music and lighting controls
• “Collective Submissions” (software, scenic and video design, user-supplied content via picture messaging, computer networking) – users sent cellphone pictures via text message that became part of a real-time changing gallery installation before their very eyes.
• “Surrealist Disco” (software, interactive video and furniture design, dancer- and DJ-controlled interactive lighting) sensor-based movement tracking of a dancer on stage combined with audio tracking of music provided by a DJ to control dance floor and ceiling lighting; an adjacent interactive vanity “mirror” allowed patrons to view surrealist-themed alterations of their own reflection in real time.
• “Mandala Mirror” (software, scenic design, camera tracking and interactive video design, lighting, performance with live band and dancers) – video tracking of dancer on stage controlled the real-time changes of lighting and projection on the stage, dance floor, and surrounding scenery.
New York Theater, 1996-2002: As resident composer of the critically-acclaimed avant-garde company Collision Theory, and as sound and interactivity designer for several others, I helped bring numerous new works to life on NYC’s downtown stages. From concept to collaborative design to production, this was a period of considerable creative gestalt for me, helping me to form the basis of my theories on the importance of interactivity. Works include:
Dance, My Darling, Dance (Collision Theory), Ohio Theatre, 2002
First Love (Charles Mee), New York Theatre Workshop, 2001
The Abduction Project (Collision Theory), HERE Arts Center, 2001
Devil’s Lake (Alise Morgan), Theatre 45 Below, 2001
Snatch (Peter Rose), Soho Rep, 2000
Incorporated – A Cinderella Story (Collision Theory), HERE Arts Center, 2000
Skriker (Caryl Churchill), NYU Tisch Mainstage, 1999
Time/Bomb (Collision Theory), Ohio Theatre, 1998
In Search of Home (Qivittoq Theater Company), Access Broadway Theater, 1998
The Homonculous Project (Atlas Mason Theater Company), Ohio Theater, 1997
From 1996-2009, I was also the resident sound designer of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Cold Spring, NY, creating audio environments and providing dance music for 20+ shows.