control.
Presented by BLOB Collective at Royal Conservatoire Antwerp as part of Convergence, a seminar on Co-creative Strategies in Interdisciplinary Artistic Practices in March โ25.
Using blob tracking technology within Isadora we built a system in which we mapped sounds and texts to each performer meaning their bodies movement input triggered a sound/text output throughout the piece.
Three bodies enter a system. Who is in control? Whose decisions are we making? We begin. We end. What is our purpose?
control. is a performance piece which uses the framework of our โUnderConstructionโ project, exploring the intersection of the body and technology. Using blob tracking technologies, we investigate what it means to input our bodies and submit our control to a system of our own creation.
Control. Who is in control?
Who makes the decisions?
Who is influenced by who?
What is the relationship?
We built the system.
We set the parameters.
We set the score.
We begin. We end.
We decide when.
And how.
What does the camera see?
It sees you. It sees us.
What doesn't it see?
The interaction.
The faith.
Who decides what it sees?
We do.
So we are in control.
We submit ourselves to a system.
Responding to outputs.
Left. Right.
Moving forward.
Controlling the speed.
We give up our control
within our own boundaries.
We always know
whatโs going to happen next.
Extract from my text used in the performance
Building blocks
1. Signalling the start of the piece: sound plays at a slow speed.
2. First performer walks: one sound emerges from the group and in/decreases speed as the performer slowly walks across the stage and then back to starting position.
Second performer then walks and returns to starting position, illustrating the same control but with a different sound, followed by the final performer who does the same- signalling sounds are unique to each performer and are controlled by horizontal movement.
3. All performers walk in different directions: showing the possibility for all sounds to be controlled simultaneously.
Text is introduced but does not change position.
4. Performers move to centre: two more lines of text appear.
5. Performers move outwards: text moves with them - signalling that each performer is connected to a different text.
6. Performers move their arms: text changes size - showing how each performer can control the size of their own text.
7. Live camera view is activated: signalling how the performer movement is being tracked.
Created and performed by BLOB collective:
Dualtagh McDonnell-Grundy, Biyi Zhu, Sophie Waller.