TUESDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 2004: 3pm and 4pm performance demos + full performance at 7pm

Media Lab Europe,Sugar House Lane, Dublin, First Floor Theatre

A SHOW, AN INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE, AN EXPERIMENT in community interaction: awarded the coveted WSIS Award, which Dr Lizbeth Goodman shared with the SPIRITlevel team when they co-presented their live showcase at the Geneva World Summit of the Information Society, Dec. 2003

'Anima Obscura' presents a vibrant world of mad inventors and their rebellious creatures, vying for the power to control their own images in a rich 3d world. The story is also a fable for communication and miscommunication in a world of prejudice, where people are still expected to conform to agreed 'norms' of physical appearance and movement styles, and where over-expressive body language is often considered subversive or dangerous.

Presented by the SPIRITlevel team of performers, interaction designers and engineers, with equal representation by women and men of a wide range of physical abilities, body types and communication styles, this interactive show integrates live counterbalance movement and wheelchair dance with responsive screens, biosensor input systems and 3d graphic character interactions with music, morphing and more. . . The show demonstrates real world applications for the use of motion capture in dance and rehabilitation, using biometric data and cameras to capture and create energies and flows in the modified MindGames visualisation engine. These energies impact upon the virtual world, reaching through the screen to reward a person for movement.

Before the show, we will project showreel clips from previous performances and workshops with children with disabilities in Ireland, and from international projects and productions.

The show will be followed by discussion with the team, and by a special premiere performance of a new score and integrated poetic dance experiment by James Brosnan and Lizbeth Goodman, with original score by Denis Roche, and a BBC interactive screen system by Marc Price, integrating dance, voice and interactive movement with and by the creative spirits of the CRC (Central Remedial Clinic) in Dublin.

The event will end with live music and a chance for the audience to interact with the operating systems and responsive screens.

ANIMA OBSCURA v 2.0

Written, directed and performed by Lizbeth Goodman (SMARTlab); choreographed and co-directed by Cathy O'Kennedy; featuring dancers Bobby Byrne & Audrey Murphy (Arts and Disability Ireland Counterbalance) and Jennifer Fleenor (Fluxusdance) with Colm O Snodaigh of KILA;

Featuring STILL LIFE responsive screens by Rob Burke et al (MLE) & with 3d animations created by SMARTlab and brought to life by the MindGames Group of Media Lab Europe (Phil McDarby et al); featuring a special appearance by Josie the Robot (made by Brian Duffy of MLE) and a cameo by NYU/CATlab Chris Bregler's 2d TRUST & HOPE animations.

'Anima Obscura v 2.0' is scored by and includes original songs performed in Irish by Colm O'Snodaigh of KILA (www.kila.ie)-with integrated musical scores by Nick Ryan (BBC/SMARTlab), edited in audio collage by Jana Riedel (SMARTlab).

THIS PERFORMANCE WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY:
Jenny Goodman, our archangel sponsor, and her colleagues at JP Morgan
Gary McDarby, Trevor Keech et al at MLE
Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, the London Institute

The good will of the SPIRITlevel team, all of whom gave their time as a contribution to community building & The children of the world of TRUST who inspired and contributed to earlier iterations of this show