This special issue started with a selection of the best papers submitted to ARTECH 2015 followed by an expansion and review of the original work. The articles were written by many internationally... Show More

This special issue started with a selection of the best papers submitted to ARTECH 2015 followed by an expansion and review of the original work. The articles were written by many internationally experienced researchers and specialists in several disciplines, including a set of younger authors, showing a promising potential for research and development. Contributions came from many countries, from Brazil to Australia, and integrate work from academia, research institutions, and industry, indicating a comprehensive representation of the state-of-the-art approaches and developments that address the broad field of digital arts.

The artworks that fall nowadays within the umbrella term ‘mediadance,' characterized by the hybridism on the intersection of dance, moving image, digital technology and communication and information... Show More

The artworks that fall nowadays within the umbrella term ‘mediadance,' characterized by the hybridism on the intersection of dance, moving image, digital technology and communication and information technologies, are representing and simulating not only new types of dancing body configurations but also promoting a new way for the audience to experience dance. This article presents and reflects on Gretchen Schiller's (2003) concepts of ‘mediadance' and ‘kinesfield,' revisiting Maurice Merleau-Ponty's (1945, 1962) thoughts on phenomenology of perception for theoretical support to analyze the forms of embodiment that mediadance promotes. Finally, we adopt Don Idhe's post-phenomenological claim that the experience interlaced between body and digital technology is a re-embodiment stage and never, as some authors can propose, a disembodiment stage.

The main problem this work addresses is the real-time recognition of gestures, particularly in the complex domain of artistic performance. By recognizing the performer gestures, one is able to map... Show More

The main problem this work addresses is the real-time recognition of gestures, particularly in the complex domain of artistic performance. By recognizing the performer gestures, one is able to map them to diverse controls, from lightning control to the creation of visuals, sound control or even music creation, thus allowing performers real-time manipulation of creative events. The work presented here takes this challenge, using a multidisciplinary approach to the problem, based in some of the known principles of how humans recognize gesture, together with the computer science methods to successfully complete the task. This paper is a consequence of previous publications and presents in detail the Gesture Recognition Module of the ZatLab Framework and results obtained by its Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. One will provide a brief review the previous works done in the area, followed by the description of the framework design and the results of the recognition algorithms.

The digital processing of three-dimensional movement data often leads to instrumental design methods. This problem-solution design paradigm limits spatial design practices because they do more than... Show More

The digital processing of three-dimensional movement data often leads to instrumental design methods. This problem-solution design paradigm limits spatial design practices because they do more than solve singular problems. The question is whether spatial design practice can exploit the mediating effects of hardware and software. Robin Evans' essay ‘Translations from Drawing to Building' argues that architecture needs to embrace the mediating effects of the drawing. To this end digital motion capture systems open numerous new mapping and diagramming techniques. The unique condition sponsored by movement data is that architecture must find new ways of drawing the relationship between drawing, data and experience. These new drawings also open numerous issues around the representational and formal opportunities raised by movement capture technologies. Accordingly, the architectural exploration of movement data needs to assess the basis by which all design disciplines can approach movement data through generative rather than instrumental design acts.

Augmented Reality (AR) allows computer-generated imagery information to be overlaid onto a live real world environment in real-time. Technological advances in mobile computing devices (MCD) such as... Show More

Augmented Reality (AR) allows computer-generated imagery information to be overlaid onto a live real world environment in real-time. Technological advances in mobile computing devices (MCD) such as smartphones and tablets (internet access, built-in cameras and GPS) made a greater number of AR applications available. This paper presents the Augmented Reality Musical Gallery (ARMG) exhibition, enhanced by AR. ARMG focuses the twentieth century music history and it is aimed to students from the 2nd Cycle of basic education in Portuguese public schools. In this paper, we will introduce the AR technology and address topics as constructivism, art education, student motivation, and informal learning environments. We conclude by presenting the first part of the ongoing research conducted among a sample group of students contemplating the experiment in educational context.

This paper proposes the use of transmedia storytelling in an educational context. Transmedia stories are perceived as opportunities to create a new learning scenario that allows for the development... Show More

This paper proposes the use of transmedia storytelling in an educational context. Transmedia stories are perceived as opportunities to create a new learning scenario that allows for the development of innovative student-centred educational practices, and the implementation of collaborative strategies that ultimately meet the 21st-century students' needs. Through the discussion of a transmedia learning project targeted to English as Second Language students, this paper attempts to provide insight on how learning activities and strategies can be embedded in the digital narrative and experience layers of a storyworld.

Based on the triad film-interactivity-experimentation, the applied research project The Forking Paths, developed at the Arts and Communication Research Centre (CIAC), endeavours to find alternative... Show More

Based on the triad film-interactivity-experimentation, the applied research project The Forking Paths, developed at the Arts and Communication Research Centre (CIAC), endeavours to find alternative narrative forms in the field of Cinema and, more specifically, in the subfield of Interactive Cinema. The films in The Forking Paths invest in the relationship between the spectator and the film narrative, which is intended to be more active and engaged, and at same time they propose a research on the development of audio-visual language. The project is consubstantiated at an online platform that aims to foster the creation and web hosting of Interactive Cinema in its different variables.