ONX Studio at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2022

Referring playfully to our nervous systems – both inside the body and in the reality that surrounds us – “DocLab: Nervous Systems” focuses on experiential storytelling through different senses, art forms, and technologies. Expect digital art installations, multisensory experiences, live events, Motion Capture performances, and the ever-expanding metaverse, as we collectively ask: How does it feel to be alive? How can we experience the world? These questions are posed against the backdrop of the nervous times we live in, in which the biggest challenges we face are systemic in nature.

No longer just something used in video games and big budget action movies, MoCap technology enables new modes of film production, immersive art and live performance. While the pandemic made it imperative to enable remoteness, the engendered isolation also brought back an urgency for presence.

Since 2020, ONX Studio has been exploring new ideas in narrative and movement using its own Motion Capture stage. Member artists engage in notions of ancestral memory, Afrofuturist resources, the nature of corporeal presence, the history of body image, and human and extra-human movement, all aiming to develop new forms of narrative, character and interactivity.

Artists presenting their work during IDFA include Matt Romein (“Bag of Worms”), Lisa Jamhoury (“Maquette”), Jiabao Li (“Once a Glacier”), Matthew Niederhauser (“Realtime”), and Kat Sullivan (“Dance Looper”), who is also presenting an open masterclass.

“Bag of Worms” is a live Motion Capture performance lecture composed of vignettes, monologues, and games. A grab bag of ideas and experiments, this performance is inspired by body horror, creative violence, the WarioWare video game series, and more.

Credits
Creator: Matt Romein
Director: Matt Romein
Writers: Matt Romein, Peter Mills-Weiss, Julia Mounsey
Performers: Matt Romein, Peter Mills-Weiss, Julia Mounsey
Technical Development & Code: Matt Romein, Oren Shoham

“Maquette” is a live interactive performance leveraging Motion Capture, avatars, and dance in an exploration of the parallel histories of averaging and idealism in art and society. The performers’ movements drive avatars in a genre-bending story that unfolds in both physical and virtual space.

Credits
Concept, Creative Direction, Design, Development: Lisa Jamhoury
Choreography, Performance: Françoise Voranger, Andrea Nikki Ortiz, Hybrid Movement Company
Avatar Creation, 3D Modeling: Woraya Boonyapanachoti, Rongyu Li, Guðjón Örn Lárusson, and NYCAP3D
Audio Effects, Sound Mastering: Nicholas de la Motte
Storyboard Illustration: Jessica Hearn
Unreal Engine Developer, Environment, Visual Effects: Kevin Peter He
Unreal Engine Developer, Motion Capture, Avatars: Matt Romein

“Once a Glacier” tells the story of a relationship between a girl and a glacier through a live, mixed reality performance using Motion Capture technology. As the girl grows older, the existence of the ice is threatened, and the viewer is taken on a journey through her seemingly futile efforts to protect what was once an entire glacier.

Credits
Director, Writer: Jiabao Li
Executive/Creative Producer: Jenny Qinya Guo
VR Artist: Denis Semenov
3D Artist: Kirill Klochkov
Sound Artist: Matt McCorkle
Poet: Joan Naviyuk Kane
Illustration: Boxiang Yu
Grandma VO: Carolyn Nahyoumaurak
Girl VO: Annika Schmidt
Line Producer: Cooper Galvin

“Realtime” stages playful immersive scenarios between a participant in a VR headset and a live performer in a Motion Capture suit. These encounters exploring the anxieties and joys of the so-called metaverse are then mediated by a virtual cinematographer to produce a hybrid spectacle for a live audience.

Credits
Creator, Director: Matthew Niederhauser
Performer: Allie Donnelly
Technical Supervisor: Todd Bryant
Lead Developers: Derek Chan and Christopher Strawley

“Dance Looper” records Motion Capture data and plays it back in a digital landscape, all in real-time, with the ability to utilize the full choreographic toolset and play outside the limits of physical reality.

Credits
Concept, Technical Development: Kat Sullivan
This work would not have been possible without the creativity and dedication of choreographers Cassandra Trenary and Hussein Smko who helped develop multiple prototypes. Special thanks to Luke Dubois, who gave this work a score.

The term Motion Capture typically elicits images of sci-fi/fantasy movies such as “Lord of the Rings” and graphic video games such as “Red Dead Redemption”. However, dance makers have been working with this technology since before the 21st century. This collaboration between artistry and engineering is complex, requiring mutual understanding of not only the technical pipelines of the equipment, but also the process of choreography. How can we create better partnerships between these two fields? What is next in dance Motion Capture? In this talk, Kat Sullivan, dancer, engineer, and Motion Capture director, will explore some of these questions and survey works past and present. She will cover the trajectory of this emerging field, as well as discuss her own practice.