animation Archives | Research & Innovation

AGYU launches its new season with the Raqs Media Collective

fmaquito — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Tricky math and haunting messages accumulate in unresolved poetics this fall at the Art Gallery of 91��ɫ (AGYU).

The AGYU invites you to "surge out there" as it joins with Raqs Media Collective: technological poets for an India in transition, to present their newest exhibit Surjection.

Of the current generation of Indian artists, the from New Delhi (Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) are among the best known and most widely exposed in the west – and certainly the most media conscious. Having started as documentary filmmakers, over the past 20 years they have evolved a sophisticated, and sometimes performative, practice that combines film, media, audio and text, all of which draw upon philosophy and political theory, in installations of an unresolved poetics.

Right: Members of the Raqs Media Collective, from left, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Jeebesh Bagchi and Monica Narula

The Raqs Media Collective exhibition, Surjection, opens with a free public reception tonight, from 6 to 9pm at the Art Gallery of 91��ɫ. The artists will be at the reception.

The collective describes their AGYU exhibition this way: “Raqs Media Collective delights in transposing the plenitude of the incalculable onto the fabric of the ordinary. By counting to infinity, sensing animation in stillness and speaking in the language of silence, Raqs will breathe numbers, figures, proverbs and stories into the galleries of the Art Gallery of 91��ɫ.”

In this exhibition of entirely new work, the artists start with traces that are minimal but that contain great amplitude within them, such as the palm print of Raj Konai – the ancestral trace (from 1859) of the entire history of forensic identification – that hovers over the exhibition. Now animated, this image of a counting hand initiates a series of moves that the viewer animates through the exhibition. At the same time, the viewer witnesses other evolutions in video projection where stillness itself slowly is animated. Surjection begins outside, in AGYU Vitrines and occupies both galleries.

The elements of the exhibition are in a surjective relationship to each other. “Surjection” is a mathematical concept devised by the Bourbaki Group, whereby the elements of one set are applied, transposed, or mapped onto those of another set. Surjection continues until Sunday, Dec. 4.

Surject yourself onto the Performance Bus

It’s an entirely different experience of numbers and letters on the Bingo Dilemma Bus. The game starts tonight at 6pm sharp when the Performance Bus departs the Ontario College of Art & Design University campus at 100 McCaul St.. Riders gather the clues to the game on the way to the Raqs Media Collective exhibition opening at the AGYU. Artist and game host Oliver Husain will be on the bus calling out the game clues. Performance Bus returns downtown at 9pm.

Math too tough for you? Go back to school with AGYU @ Art Toronto

The AGYU tricks or treats fair patrons with one of its specially commissioned installations featuring Toronto novelist Derek McCormack and Toronto artist Ian Phillips. The haunted schoolhouse is the outcome of an four-year project supported by the AGYU of H.A.M.S. (Holiday Arts Mail-Order School), which is a correspondence course (for the 1936-1937 school year) devoted to the holiday arts. Hallowe’enologists will be on hand to take your questions and offer demonstrations. Alumni are welcome.

Virtually AGYU

The surjective relations continue online with the as independent Toronto curator Su-Ying Lee visits the studio of New 91��ɫ-based artist Alexandre Singh, whom she met in Paris this past summer while travelling in Europe. on her travels through Europe.

Writing from the ash-filled Grimsvötn sky, Toronto artist counts down the rest of her days in Iceland as she writes about contemporary art and generous helpings of never-ending splendour, mind-blowing sunsets, migratory birds, half-shorn sheep, geothermal pools and more.

For more information, visit the AGYU website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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3D FLIC: Exploring 3D film without nausea and headaches

fmaquito — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Lovebirds, a mix of animation and live action from by Toronto company , is the showcase production of the Toronto-based 3D Film Innovation Consortium (), a 91��ɫ initiative that has brought academic researchers and filmmakers together to explore the burgeoning world of 3D filmmaking to achieve better results, wrote Liam Lacey in :

The movie, which unites new research into visual perception with the practical aspects of 3D filmmaking, is part of an attempt to boost the local film economy and improve the 3D viewing experience – with less nausea, eye strain and headaches.

The computer-generated animation portions were created by Starz (which did the 3D animation for the Disney feature ). The live-action set was shot by 91��ɫ professor using a LiDAR device (light detection and ranging, or laser radar) to create a 3D map of the set. The information was integrated into the software with the animated images to ensure accurate placement of the birds against the backdrop and to study depth perception.

Kazimi, whose background is in documentary filmmaking, is cautious about the kind of sweeping generalizations being thrown around about 3D film language, but he believes it heralds fundamental changes in film storytelling, especially in slowing down the pace of films. "There's a lot more visual information for the viewer to absorb and you need to provide the time," he says.

His 91��ɫ colleague, psychologist , is studying how people see 3D, including issues of ghosting, image disparity and motion that can make the experience unsatisfying. Simple things such as screen size and even where you sit in the theatre make a big difference. By sitting at the middle, or toward the back, the viewer can enjoy the most comfortable experience. Seats on the aisles, she suggests, "should probably be discounted."

Complicating 3D experience is the issue of "vection" or the illusion of self- motion which can occur while watching 3D. For some, it may create motion sickness.

Lovebirds will get its world premiere at the Toronto International Stereoscopic 3D Conference, June 11-14 at the Toronto International Film Festival Bell Lightbox.

The 3D FLIC project is led by Professor Nell Tenhaaf; the includes filmmakers, vision scientists, psychologists and industry partners.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ students, faculty contribute artistry to Vancouver Olympics

fmaquito — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Research at 91��ɫ is broader than books, journal articles, scientific findings or data sets. In the Faculty of Fine Arts, research can result in a dance, piece of music, or animation fit for the world stage.

While the athletes and competitive games are the major focus of the , the 91��ɫ fine arts star is also shining brightly in Vancouver. From the opening ceremonies to national broadcasts and more, 91��ɫ artists will be in the spotlight leading up to and during the Olympic Games, which start today and run to Feb. 28.

Graduate dance student Alejandro Ronceria, who choreographed Toronto’s torch ceremony (see YFile, Dec. 7, 2009), was invited to serve as one of the choreographers on the artistic team for the official opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. He was also commissioned by the to create a showcase performance, featuring more than 30 Yukon artists, to be presented at several venues during the Games.

Right: Alejandro Ronceria

“The opening ceremonies are beyond top secret,” says Ronceria, who is studying choreography and dance dramaturgy in 91��ɫ's new MFA Program in Dance. “But I can say what a tremendous honour it is to be selected to participate in their creation, and that it’s going to be a fantastic show.

“Working on the Yukon project is equally exhilarating, as it’s my own vision bringing it together,” Ronceria says. “The production will present the best traditional and contemporary arts and artists of the territory. Interweaving music, dance and storytelling against the landscape of the Yukon, it will be a powerful visual and sound experience.”

Lauren O'Neill White, a fourth-year student in 91��ɫ’s undergraduate dance program, is performing in the Olympics’ closing ceremonies. She is one of about a thousand dancers selected from more than 10,000 online applicants. "I'm thrilled for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she says. "It's been a roller-coaster ride."

Left: Lauren O'Neill White

O’Neill White has been in Vancouver for rehearsals since December (with a two-week break for the Christmas holidays). The work is very intensive: rehearsals started with four-hour sessions daily, escalating to full-day rehearsals as the big day gets closer.

With her three-month stint on the West Coast, O’Neill White is completing her final semester by correspondence and an independent study on the Olympic ceremonies. Outside of rehearsal she is keeping very busy with dance classes, her studies and making friends.

“This truly is a unique and phenomenal way to meet people,” O’Neill White says. “Everybody at rehearsal comes from such different backgrounds, and we all merge in this huge space with the one common interest of performing. It's great.”

Participating in the Olympics in a very different creative capacity is alumnus Felix Lau (BDes Spec. Hons. ’09). He was hired by CTV as a junior motion designer shortly after graduation, and has been working on animated graphics for the Olympics since he started on the job in mid-August.

Right: Felix Lau

Lau has moved from strength to strength since last summer, when he picked up two Applied Arts Student Awards in the online animation category as well as the CTV Creative Agency Award for Motion Graphics Design in the Registered Graphic Design Ontario Student Member Awards (see YFile, Sept. 3, 2009).

“So far I’ve worked on two styles of segments [for the Olympics],” says Lau. “The athlete features are 30 seconds in length and use shots of the athletes in action while an announcer reads their accomplishments in a voice-over. The other segments are the mini-opens, which are only 10 seconds in length and use both video and still images to create an interesting visual break between regular programming.”

Like many Olympians, Lau is part of a team in his endeavour. “There are at least 15 people working on the massive Olympics design project at any given time, and more people are allocated when the need arises,” he says.

Some segments Lau has worked on are already being aired, but others won’t be seen until the Olympic Winter Games start.

The Olympics may also feature 91��ɫ music talent. Canadian figure skaters Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier set their short program at the national competition in London, Ontario – which placed second overall and qualified them for the Olympics – to En Malaga, a dramatic and lyrical flamenco score composed and performed by Department of Music faculty member .

Right: Roger Scannura

“I’m positive they will use the same routine for the Olympics,” says Scannura. “While I didn’t originally compose the song for them, it’s wonderful to see how they are using my music, and where it’s going.”

With six CDs to his credit, Scannura is an internationally recognized flamenco guitarist. This is not the first time his music has been connected to top-level athleticism: Nike used one of his songs for a World Cup commercial in 2006.

Alumna Jennifer Jimenez (BFA Spec. Hons & BEd ’99) is the lighting designer for the Cultural Olympiad remount of the Judith Thompson play , which debuted yesterday and will continue until Feb. 17 at Vancouver's Firehall Arts Centre.

Right: A scene from Body & Soul

An international theatre maker and facilitator, Jimenez has designed lighting for projects with numerous UK companies including Circus Space, the Bath International Puppetry Festival and Arcola Theatre. Her recent Canadian credits include lighting design for The President in the Shaw Festival’s 2008 season and working with Robert Lepage’s company, Ex Machina, on the creation of Le Projet Anderson and The Busker's Opera. She currently works as resident lighting designer for Tottering Biped Theatre.

On the stage and behind the scenes, the Olympics allow more than just athletes to demonstrate their excellence. Follow all the festivities and events on the Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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