Kinect Installation at Singapore Dance Fest

When Microsoft unleashed the Kinect last fall as an add-on for Xbox 360, hackers and geeks the world over were chomping at the bit to break in and figure out what it can do. That’s because the Kinect is a $150 piece of equipment that contains a super sophisticated camera that can detect depth (3D), color, speed and motion, as well as stereophonic microphones that can place sounds in space. As a result it’s basically a rudimentary brain that has both sight and sound senses and can capture and respond to the world like a sentient being (almost).

The list of Kinect hacks has been piling up since it was released last November, and it will keep growing thanks to Microsoft’s new Kinect Developers kit for Windows (apparently a Mac kit is in the works). Among the coolest developments is motion capture software like Jasper Brekelman’s Brekel that enables anyone to create their own mo-cap animations using the Kinect. Here is a preview of “Under the HUD” by Triangle Productions, an animated series using Brekel and Kinect’s motion capture capabilities. Although the choreography is not so impressive, they give great insight into how they are using the technology.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The sensors on the Kinect make it a powerful tool for intermedia performance. Amazing live interactive animations like those of Chunky Move’s “Mortal Engine” can be obtained using the Kinect for a tiny fraction of the cost and technological know how. Here is an example of an artful performance with live video projections using a Kinect developed by the media and design firm 1024 Architecture.

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There have been many technological precedents to the Kinect, but for a much higher price tag. In the dance world this kind of technology was formerly only available to universities and world class dance companies with loads of funding. The prototype of Kinect’s camera and microphone alone cost $30,000! How can Microsoft charge only $150 for the same technology? Well the answer is in the popularity of the device, which has already sold 10 million units and counting.

The fact that this device is called Kinect and was designed to track the motion of the human body seems to be a dream come true for dance artists and movers. I can’t wait to see what artists and geeks will come up with next.

To learn more and see loads of videos about hacks for the Kinect go to: Kinecthacks.net

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out more featured web dances on our YouTube Channel.

Alex Springer & XanBurley, USA, 2008

“The Parlor” takes its inspiration from the room in which it was filmed: a stately antiquated parlor in a country club. The two dancers play with court dancing and formal social dance, and then expand to play with the nooks and crannies of the room.

Jody Oberfelder, USA, 2008

A playful piece filled with newspapers and cut-out letters, Snew suggests connections via language that is not yet tangible: the life that happens in between bits of information in a media saturated world.

Zachary Whittenburg, USA, 2009

This video utilizes Apple iMovie and the .3gp codec to create a once-removed documentation of a single-shot dance improvisation by Zachary Whittenburg.

Lindsay Drury, USA, 2009

A deadpan how-to on the sell-out, complete with a self-important, pseudo-British voice-over on identity. Includes a fixed camera, masking-taped private parts, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins singing “There’s Something Wrong with You!”

Sabine Klaus, Scotland, 2009

Created for DFA’s “What Moves You 48 Hour Challenge,” this 4th submission by Sabine Klaus was inspired by the same event as Marisa C. Hayes’ “Gaffe“. Intended as an analogy between document loss and memory loss, sound and picture stutter among four elderly people with dementia.

Heidi Duckler, USA, 2009

60 seconds isn’t enough time to do justice to what was apparently a rich stage event, with kick ass production values, and a tantalizing smorgasbord of psychologically loaded scenes. Please, professor, don’t make me lie on that bike rack!

Jeannette Ginslov, Scotland, 2009

CoNCrEte reveals our ever changing responses to the environment, relationships and events that result in a display of emotions and affordances. CoNCrEte amplifies the emotional and kinaesthetic using Douglas Rosenberg’s “carnivorous camera”, the close-up and de-familiarization, post modern dance choreographic strategies, concrete authentic emotions and the haptic.