Research methodology & ethos
Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer have a set of proven and effective practice-based, collaborative and critical research methodologies, specifically in the area of remote digital collaboration (i.e. with researchers and practitioners not physically co-located), with a strong track record of turning these into theoretical insight and shared knowledge co-creation. The ethos of all research projects is that meaningful research and creative collaboration can happen at a distance and through emergent digital platforms.
Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer brings a rigorous critical, social, cultural and humanities framework to all aspects of research, centring accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability in all our work through a design-for-all ethos. We are thoroughly invested in lowering barriers to access across economic, class-based, racial, ethnic, gendered, and disabled boundaries.
With an outstanding group of industry-leading creative partners, technical and industry collaborators, and with skilled delivery partners, Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer has an excellent track record of building strong collaborative networks towards commercial, creative and academic goals. This is all underwritten by an interdisciplinary and theory-based philosophical approach to innovation, rather than innovation for innovation's sake.
Current projects
British Academy Fellowship
Dancing into the Cultural Metaverse: Inclusivity and Accessibility
In partnership with Alexander Whitley Dance Company and inspired by the principles of intersectional, interdisciplinary, and disability-centred dance research, we develop, workshop and disseminate tools and practices for the benefit of all potential users of immersive media
XR Network+
Mocap streamer tool & OTMO Digital Dance Studio
An ESPRC XR Network Prototyping, Impact, and Acceleration R&D grant to integrate the Mocap Streamer tool with Alexander Whitley Dance Company’s ‘Otmo’ Digital Dance Studio to create an all-in-one virtual choreographic tool that can receive live inputs of dance sequences from anyone, anywhere in the world, and visualise them immediately and without specialist expertise.
Brief history
Investigating the applications of motion capture technology in telematic and virtual dance performance
2019-2020
Supported by Goldsmiths/LASALLE Partnership Innovation Fund and MCCS ‘Future of Media’ research theme.
In collaboration with LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore, Akram Khan Dance Company, and Target3D. An interdisciplinary collaborative project to research the potential application of new forms of inertial sensor wireless and markerless motion-capture in remote creation, rehearsal, teaching and performance of choreographic dance work. This resulted in a series of experimental test sessions, where two dancers, one in London, and one in Singapore, danced together but virtually, wearing the Perception Neuron inertial sensor (IMU) motion capture system. Dance data was streamed in real-time from a dancer in similar studio space in LASALLE college in Singapore, some 6700 miles away, with barely noticeable delay or latency.
Developing a framework for motion capture streaming, AKA ‘Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer’
2020-2021
Supported by the AHRC
This project addressed a perceived need for useable and accessible technology for dance practitioners to move beyond the limitations of video conferencing platforms for sharing dance during the pandemic lockdowns. Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer was developed to address the issues of isolation and physical distancing during the Covid pandemic, by first connecting dancers remotely, and then seeing what kinds of emotional, aesthetic, and affective connections could be made within virtual spaces. In May and November 2021, we had the opportunity to share our findings with an international audience through showcases and Q&A.
2021-2022
Building an international network for virtual dance collaboration
Supported by the AHRC, within their ‘Creative Economy for Sustainable Development’ special focus theme.
Having evidenced the possibility to remotely connect performers for meaningful and productive collaborative dance practice, we explored the potential for mocap streaming to be used within other choreographic practices; co-creation, rehearsal, teaching, and training in an international network of dance companies through a six-month virtual artists residency. By supplying them with kit, training and mentorship, we empowered performers and creative technologists in Thailand, India, Malta, Brazil, and the US to co-create work that was presented in the November 2022 Being Human Festival showcase Global Dance Collaboration in the Metaverse.
Dancing into the Cultural Metaverse: Inclusivity and Accessibility
2023-2024
A British Academy Innovation Fellowship
Inspired by the principles of intersectional, interdisciplinary, and disability-centred dance research, we aim to develop, workshop and disseminate tools and practices for the benefit of all potential users of immersive media. The kinds of sustainable and inclusive design practices that this incorporates are; streaming tools for remote participation, customisable avatar systems for adaptive embodiment, agency, and representation in virtual spaces, immersive platforms for dance creativity. With partner organisation Alexander Whitley Dance Company (AWDC) we are able to explore presence, embodiment and interaction in an expressive, gestural mode that is not reliant on the normative kind of ‘realist’ avatar communication promoted by mainstream tech companies, working instead on the innovative, experimental, cutting-edge of this mode of expression which is truly live and real-time interactive.