Longing and Forgetting

Video characters inhabit the west wall of Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre: climbing the wall, sitting on window ledges, and looking out towards the passing SkyTrain in this interactive artwork by Matthew Gingold, Thecla Schiphorst, and Philippe Pasquier.

The artwork ran as a generative video with an interactive event on April 24 where the public used their mobile devices to control the characters’ movement, activating them to climb, leap, and maneuver on the wall. Philippe Pasquier additionally premiered the generative sound piece developed to accompany this artwork.

Longing and Forgetting is an outcome of research that explores how movement can be used more expressively and intelligently within interactive technologies.

This artwork is a collaboration between Matthew Gingold, Thecla Schiphorst, and Philippe Pasquier. Directed by Matthew Gingold. Produced by Thecla Schiphorst in collaboration with Philippe Pasquier. Choreography by Thecla Schiphorst. Associate Producer: Kristin Carlson. Set Design by Greg Snider. Lighting Design by Ben Rogalsky. Performed by Shannon Cuykendall, Matt Duncan, Sarah Fdili Alaouim, Meghan Goodman, Marcus Marshall, Joshua Ongcol, Priya Rajaratnam, Bladimir Santos Laffita, Nathalie Sanz, Cara Siu, Yawen Wang, and Martin Wong. Video Shoot sponsored by Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts and Goldcorp Woodwards.

The artists gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Moving Stories and Mobile Presence), CANARIE (m+m: movement + meaning middleware), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

About the Artists

Matthew Gingold

Matthew Gingold has been developing and implementing technology in performance and installation for the last fifteen years. His practice spans theatre, dance, museum, and gallery contexts. He is particularly interested in the social and cultural meanings that technology create in and of themselves, and how these can be harnessed in the production of unique, live(d) experience. His work has been presented at Ars Electronica, Medialab-Prado, Teatro Mayor, MOCA Taipei, Expo Bicentenario, Seoul Festival, Melaka Festival, MONA/FOMA, Melbourne Museum, and National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Thecla Schiphorst

Thecla Schiphorst is an artist and Associate Professor and Associate Director of the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. Her background in dance and computing form the basis for her work in embodied interaction, movement expression, and interactive art. She collaborated with Merce Cunningham from 1990 to 2005 supporting his creation of new dance with the computer and she is the recipient of the 1998 PetroCanada Award in New Media, a biennial award presented to a Canadian artist. Her art installations have been exhibited worldwide in venues including Ars Electronica, Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, Future Physical, SIGGRAPH, Wexner Centre for the Arts, Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, and ICA London.

Philippe Pasquier

Philippe Pasquier is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair at Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts and Technology. He is both a scientist specializing in artificial intelligence and a multi-disciplinary artist. His scientific research focuses on the development of models and tools for endowing machines with autonomous, intelligent, or creative behaviour. His contributions range from theoretical research in artificial intelligence and machine learning to applied artistic research and practice in computational creativity and generative art. His work has been shown internationally, published in over 100 peer-reviewed forums, and funded by more than twenty scientific or cultural institutions worldwide.

Curator: Alison Rajah
Origin of Exhibition: Surrey Art Gallery