Ideas in Motion 2005 Web Archive

During the 2005 Festival, Boston Cyberarts premiered “Ideas in Motion: Innovations in Dance, Movement & Technology” to initiate a pilot effort advancing Boston as the logical hub and host city for research, exploration and celebration of works at the intersection of dance, movement and technology. To fulfill this objective, Ideas in Motion featured a core event conference featuring an exciting cast of artists sharing and debating ideas around challenging new media and motion-related topics, and complimentary events, including performances, videos, workshops, historical retrospectives, exhibits and panel-style discussions in an effort to reveal the diversity of interests and methods proposed by artists and engineers in the field. The Ideas in Motion event series facilitated an open exchange of ways to work with and think about dance, movement and technology. It provided a platform for expression and performance of strong and diverse artistic views.

At the heart of Ideas in Motion was the two-day conference, held at MIT Simmons Hall (Saturday, April 23) and Boston University Dance Theater (Sunday, April 24). Both days featured a morning workshop, an afternoon of performances and presentations and an evening double bill performance.

The Conference presented the following artists:

Workshops
Marlon Barrios Solano (OSU/NY) Portable Realtime: Introduction to Real-time Video Processing with Max/MSP, Jitter and USB Devices.
Mark Coniglio & Dawn Stopiello/Troika Ranch (NY) Isadora: Live Interactive (Live-I) Workshop

Keynote Address & Overview of the Field
Professor John D. Mitchell, ASU

Performances/Presentations
Elaine Summers (NY)
Justin Davila (NY)
Helen Pickett (NY)
Mark Downie (MIT)
Nell Breyer (MIT CAVS)
Vita Berezina (OSU)
Fukurow Ishikawa ( Japan)
Maya Ciarocci (NY)
Noah Riskin (MIT)
Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance (NY)
Kinodance Company (MA)
Fico Balet (Slovenia)
Marlon Barrios-Solano/Unstablelandscape

In addition, Ideas in Motion included the following events:

Exhibition
April 12-May1: The Body+ at the MIT Museum

Performances
April 29-30: Fico Balet Confi(d)ance and Kinodance Company Secret Streams at Green Street Studios.
May 1: Elaine Summers / Kinodance Company Crows Nest/Solitary Geography at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama.
May 6-7: Jamie Jewett / LOSTWAX Dance Rest/Less at Green Street Studios.

Screenings
April 30: Choreographing Cinema I & II at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Workshops
April 20-22: Helen Pickett The Expansive Artist: A Workshop based on Forsythe Improvisation Technologies at Boston Ballet.
April 25: Fico Balet Contemporary Dance Workshop at Green Street Studios.
April 30: Elaine Summers Kinetic Awareness at CasaNia Studios.

The Ideas in Motion event series attracted over 1000 attendees of diverse professions, interests and ages. These included dancers, visual artists, filmmakers, media archivists, representatives of the Mellon Foundation and the Creative Capital Foundation, film/video artists and multi media artists. Audience members were primarily from the Boston area, although some attendees came from New York, the Netherlands, and included a Vietnamese theatre and performing artist sent by the Asian Cultural Council of New York. We received substantial publicity both before and during the events including the Boston Globe Calendar (Cover Article), Boston Magazine, the Boston Phoenix, and the BBC.

As an organization, Boston Cyberarts is very proud of the conferences it has hosted during the past two Festivals. In 2003; The Visual Improvisation Symposium, The Electronic Literature Conference, Digital Art in Public Spaces and in 2005; Ideas in Motion all provided vital forums for the discussion and presentation of creative fields within new media arts. We believe they represent a vital component of the Festival. They serve the Boston area’s creative and technology communities; draw national and international audiences and artists; and provide an opportunity to explore a variety of viewpoints within a given field.

Ideas in Motion in particular, was noteworthy for its combination of a conference, workshops, master-classes, performances, film screenings and exhibitions. We believe it can function as a forum to build upon Boston’s technology and dance communities to explore and present the challenges, inspirations and results of artists working with the human body and technologies.