EXHIBITION: Robots & Avatars, our colleagues & playmates of the future

Robots and Avatars is an intercultural and intergenerational exploration of a near future world consisting of collaborations between robots, avatars, virtual worlds, telepresence and real time presence within creative places, work and play spaces.

“I love the way Robots and Avatars is bringing together a beautiful diversity of people, exploring new paradigms, with unexpected and inspiring results. Exciting! Brave! Fun!”
Pear Urushima, Marketing Guru, Apple. Inc

The Robots and Avatars Exhibition will feature cutting edge art pieces, including three Commissions with the National Theatre.

It will present a mixture of robotics, online and wearable projects, immersive installations, performances and films. Attached to the Exhibition are high-quality debates and workshops, playfully didactic experiences that will enable visitors of all ages and levels to interact and engage with digital technologies.

The exhibition will premiere at FACT, Liverpool (UK) from 16th March – 25th May;  and then tour to  AltArt, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) in June/July 2012 and KIBLA (Slovenia- as part of Maribor 2012, European Capital of Culture) in October/November 2012.

See more info on the Exhibition here

“me and my shadow” by UK artist Joseph Hyde is developped in the framework of the MADE project, and will premiere simultaneously in four different cities from 9th to 16th June 2012, connecting real time audiences in London, Paris, Mons and Istanbul.

This innovative installation is based on the motion-capture technologies, and consists of 4 ‘portals’ which will unite users in each space through telepresence, projecting their 3D shadows into a creative collaborative space. “me and my shadow” promises to be a deeply poetic experience, immersing participants in a journey through virtual spaces and memories.
Jo Hyde’s piece is being developped in the 4 partners cities from September 2011 to June 2012.

This MADE Commission is being co-produced in the UK with our partner the National Theatre. “me and my shadow” is commissioned by MADE, a EU co-operation project between lead organiser centre des arts d’Enghien-les-Bains (Paris, France) and partners body>data>space (London, UK), Transcultures (Mons, Belgium) and boDig (Istanbul, Turkey), in the framework of the EU’s Culture programme (2007-2013).

After an initial 2 weeks residency in Bilgi University (Istanbul), the UK residency has taken National Theatre Studios in January 2012.

Follow Jo Hyde process: http://madeshadow.wordpress.com/

Would you like to check out the local contemporary dance festivals in Bucharest, Dublin, Istanbul or London? Do you want to attend a dance platform in Riga? Would you care to discover the evolving Cypriot dance scene? Do you need money to visit a partner/ artist to start up a new collaboration? Do you want to learn more about the E-motional Bodies & Cities project and participate in the final festival/forum in Romania?

APPLY NOW to the Motion Fund of the E-MOTIONAL Bodies & Cities programme! We have 14 mobility and networking grants available for you to travel between Romania – Ireland – Latvia – Cyprus – United Kingdom –Turkey.  €500 (for part of the international travel expenses, accommodation and/or per diem) Deadline: 29. February 2012.

Read more here

Do you want to get an insight into the preparation of a festival? Do you want find out more about how dance houses are run in Dublin or Limassol? Do you want to be part of the first Latvian dance platform and attend an international festival in Romania?  Do you want to witness the E-motional artists at work in UK and Romania and attend their final project event in Bucharest?

APPLY NOW to the Motion Fund of the E-MOTIONAL Bodies & Cities programme for a Gabriela Tudor Fellowship. We have 6 grants available for you to discover the dance scenes in Romania – Ireland – Latvia – Cyprus – United Kingdom.

DESTINATION COUNTRIES (Applicants from CY, IE, LV, UK, RO)                         
Cyprus [July 2012]
UK [January 2013]
Ireland [February 2013]
Latvia [February 2013]
Romania [April 2013]

DEADLINES:
August 31, 2012 [for all the fellowships taking place in 2013]

Read more here

Established in early summer 2011, the two-year mobility and artistic exchange dance programme E-MOTIONAL Bodies & Cities is currently launching a new strand of activities – the international ArtistNe(s)t Residencies.

The programme aims to offer support to the development of new work by young and mid-career choreographers and is addressed to artists based in the 6 participating countries of the project: Romania, Cyprus, Ireland, Latvia, United Kingdom, and Turkey.

The choreographers, either alone or together with a collaborator of their choice (dancer, visual artist, manager, etc.), will be granted a four-week residency to work on an ongoing project, start a new project or collaborate with local artists. Special attention will be given to projects matching the theme of the project and to collaborations and exchanges with local artistic communities. Travel costs, per diem, accommodation and rehearsal space for the entire residency period are provided, together with a fee per project awarded. Find the full Call for Proposals here

For more information write to contact@e-motional.eu, to the contacts indicated above in each country, or visit www.e-motional.eu.

In the framework of the MADE commission, Joseph Hyde and his programmer Philipp Tew have been benefiting from a 2 weeks residency at the National Theatre Studio from January 2nd to 14th 2012. A test bed environment for the project has been created.

Joseph Hyde has been  working with a group of London based programmers to develop a software for the project and with some UK based dancers and choreographers to explore the spatial and motion aspects of the project for the public and performative use. See a video here.

On the last day of the residency, a Process Showing was organised, giving the opportunity to Joseph Hyde to present the project and the output of the 2 weeks residency to a selection of key guests and to the MADE partners.

Read more about the process on Joseph Hyde blog.

The body>data>space team had great pleasure in hosting the MADE (Mobility for Digital Arts in Europe) partners from Belgium (Transcultures), France (centre des arts and Philippe Baudelot) and Turkey (bodig) for the second time in London. Read more here: link to

Overall the MADE themes are based within a debate about interdisciplinarity, co-creation and new models of production and distribution within the frame of a creative economy. One of the key issues discussed in this Workshop has been be “Local to local : communities to international”. For this we have partnered with the firstsite in Colchester, which hosted the group in their brand new and amazingly designed building.

This 2nd Workshop in London was linked to the 2 weeks UK Residency of MADE Commission “me and my shadow” by UK Artist Joseph Hyde with his Programmer and dancers’ team at the National Theatre Studio.

Read more here

On the artistic strand of E-MOTIONAL, the interdisciplinary artistic research will be the flagship of the project. A series of 5 cross-border working periods will be organised alternatively in Dublin, Riga, Limassol, London and Bucharest to question the emotional body and its relation with these cities. Two different artistic teams will embark together in a co-authorship process to explore the relation between the human body, the urban and geo-political context and new technologies.

Please check here the selection http://www.e-motional.eu/artistic-research/

Congratulation to Luke Pell and Gemma Riggs, the 2 selected UK Artists!

Would you like to check out the local contemporary dance festivals in Bucharest, Dublin, Istanbul or London? Do you want to attend a dance platform in Riga? Would you care to discover the evolving Cypriot dance scene? Do you need money to visit a partner/ artist to start up a new collaboration? Do you want to learn more about the E-motional Bodies & Cities project and participate in the final festival/forum in Romania?

APPLY NOW to the Motion Fund of the E-MOTIONAL Bodies & Cities programme! We have 14 mobility and networking grants available for you to travel between Romania – Ireland – Latvia – Cyprus – United Kingdom –Turkey.

Contemporary dance professionals (artists, managers, critics, academics, etc.) from the E-motional countries are welcome to apply for a mobility and networking grant in order to visit and attend specific events (festivals, workshops, international seminars, network meetings, etc.) taking place in the other project countries from May 2012 to April 2013.

Read more and download the Call for Proposal here.

For the first two weeks of January 2012, artist Joseph Hyde and programmer Phill Tew will be in residence at the National Theatre Studio in  London. Joe and Phil will be working on the second phase of me and my shadow, a year long project commissioned by MADE, taking shape through a series of collaborative workshops across Europe.

For two days (5/6th Jan), they invite input into the software being developed for the project, currently in prototype form.

This Residency is produced by body>data>space in collaboration with National Theatre Digital Media. body>data>space support this Commission as a partner of  MADE – Mobility for Digital Arts in Europe (EU Culture Programme).

Kinect Hack-off, National Studio Theatre Digital Studio, 5/6th Jan 2012 . Full Call for Participation and Contact here