eRENA: Electronic arenas for culture, performance, arts and entertainment

• Forschungsstelle: EU FRP
• Projektnummer: 97.0234-2
• Projekttitel Englisch: eRENA: Electronic arenas for culture, performance, arts and entertainment

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Culture; art; entertainment; avatars; mixed reality performance; facial expression analysis

Alternative Projektnummern (Englisch)

EU project number: EP 25.379

Forschungsprogramme (Englisch)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 1.3 Telematic systems

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

See abstract

Partner und Internationale Organisationen (Englisch)

British Telecommunications (UK), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) (CH), University of Geneva (MIRALab) (CH), GMD - Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik GmbH (D), Illuminations Ltd.(UK), KTH- Royal Institute of Technology (S), University of Nottingham (UK), Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) (D)

Abstract (Englisch)

The eRENA project is focused on inhabited information spaces to support new forms of cultural experience spanning arts, performance and entertainment. We refer to these kinds of spaces as electronic arenas. In eRENA long term research is involved into a range of 'spatial technologies', especially multi-user virtual environments, coupled to new forms of artistic content and an understanding of social interaction. The eRENA consortium brings together internationally known digital artists from ZKM and GMD; experts in multi-user virtual reality from EPFL, Geneva, Nottingham, KTH and GMD; social scientists from Nottingham and KTH; broadcasters from Illuminations; expertise in CAVEs and other projected interfaces from GMD, KTH and BT; and networking expertise from BT.One central focus has been the development of tools for the creation of key elements of vir-tual environments: avatars, both as individuals and in potentially large and dynamic crowds; links between real and virtual worlds, as well as permeable boundaries between them; and recordings and replays of all aspects of complex actions within environments. MIRALab has been a main contributor with respect to this aspect. Original techniques have been developed to create realistic-looking virtual humans and to provide not just individuals but large crowds of distinct figures. Individualised faces can be created for a small number of figures using photographs of humans. Automatic texture mapping fits the photographs onto the 3-D face. A much lager population can then be generated by combining these initial faces. Diverse body shapes for avatars can also be generated using similar methods. MIRAlab has also investi-gated, in collaboration with EPFL, new techniques for allowing individuals and groups to navigate through and interact with mixed reality shared environments with other participants. One important other focus of the project is concerned with how mixed reality technologies that allow collaborative activity to span real and virtual spaces can be used to support new forms of performance environments. MIRAlab has worked on a versatile software and algo-rithms to capture human expressions independent of the person's face that will simulate ex-pressions of a virtual human, cartoon or artistic figure during a performance 'Scéance Box No 1', directed by Ken Feingold. 'Scéance Box No 1' involves a networked tele-puppet, a human controller, a software agent and an interacting audience that are engaged in a complex lan-guage game. It can be seen as a kind of model stage for the future of participatory theatre.

Datenbankreferenzen (Englisch)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 97.0234-2