Scenario (artwork)
Encyclopedia
Scenario is an Artificial Intelligence
(AI) computer graphic interactive installation, directed by the artist Dennis Del Favero
, and developed in collaboration with scriptwriter Stephen Sewell, AI scientist Maurice Pagnucco working with computer scientists Anuraag Sridhar, Arcot Sowmya and Paul Compton. It is a 360-degree 3D cinematic work whose narrative is interactively produced by the audience and humanoid characters . The title is a Commedia dell'arte term (ʃeˈnarjo) referring to the way dramatic action is dependent on the way actors and audience interact. http://www.icinema.unsw.edu.au/projects/prj_scenario.htmlScenario was developed at the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research http://www.icinema.unsw.edu.au at the University of New South Wales
.
. It is set within a concealed labyrinth where five humanoid characters have been imprisoned. The characters take the audience through the layrinth in an attempt to discover the possible ways they and the audience can resolve the mystery of their imprisonment and so effect an escape. Watching them are a series of shadowy humanoid sentinels who track these humanoids and the audience, physically trying to block their escape.
By rapidly interpreting and responding to audience behaviour by means of a sophisticated AI system, the humanoid sentinels work effortlessly to try and inhibit the audience at every turn. This two-fold dramatic action enables the work to create a narrative that evolves according to how the humanoids and the audience physically interact with each other . This is effected by means of a vision system that tracks the audience's behaviour, linked to an AI system that allows the humanoids to independently interpret and respond to audience behaviour.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
(AI) computer graphic interactive installation, directed by the artist Dennis Del Favero
Dennis Del Favero
Dennis Del Favero is an Australian artist and professorial fellow. He has been awarded numerous Artist-in-Residencies and Fellowships, including an Artist-in-Residence at Neue Galerie Graz and an Australian Research Council Australian Professorial Fellowship...
, and developed in collaboration with scriptwriter Stephen Sewell, AI scientist Maurice Pagnucco working with computer scientists Anuraag Sridhar, Arcot Sowmya and Paul Compton. It is a 360-degree 3D cinematic work whose narrative is interactively produced by the audience and humanoid characters . The title is a Commedia dell'arte term (ʃeˈnarjo) referring to the way dramatic action is dependent on the way actors and audience interact. http://www.icinema.unsw.edu.au/projects/prj_scenario.htmlScenario was developed at the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research http://www.icinema.unsw.edu.au at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
.
Description
Scenario is inspired by the experimental television work of Samuel BeckettSamuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
. It is set within a concealed labyrinth where five humanoid characters have been imprisoned. The characters take the audience through the layrinth in an attempt to discover the possible ways they and the audience can resolve the mystery of their imprisonment and so effect an escape. Watching them are a series of shadowy humanoid sentinels who track these humanoids and the audience, physically trying to block their escape.
By rapidly interpreting and responding to audience behaviour by means of a sophisticated AI system, the humanoid sentinels work effortlessly to try and inhibit the audience at every turn. This two-fold dramatic action enables the work to create a narrative that evolves according to how the humanoids and the audience physically interact with each other . This is effected by means of a vision system that tracks the audience's behaviour, linked to an AI system that allows the humanoids to independently interpret and respond to audience behaviour.
Scenario's AI system
The AI system is based on a variant of a symbolic logic planner drawn from the cognitive robotics language Golog developed at the University of Toronto, capable of dealing with sensors and external actions. Animations that can be performed by a humanoid character are considered actions that need to be modeled and controlled (e.g., walking to a location, pushing a character, etc.). Each action is modeled in terms of the conditions under which it can be performed (e.g., you can push a character if you are located next to it) and how it affects the environment when the action is performed. Using this modeling, the AI system plans or coordinates the actions (i.e., animations) of the humanoid characters by reasoning about the most appropriate course of action. A custom 3D behaviour toolset allows the creation of 'scenarios' that exhibit a cycle of cause and effect between the real world and the digital world. Its principal feature is that it allows the cognitive robotic language to implement realistic behaviour in the humanoid characters with a minimum of programming effort.Scenario's environment: AVIE
Scenario takes place within iCinema's Advanced Visualisation and Interaction Environment (AVIE), which consists of a 360 degree stereoscopic immersive interactive visualisation environment with motion and shape tracking systems and a multi-channel audio system. Measuring four meters high and ten meters in diameter, it is a set of state-of-the-art resources that enables the development and study of applications in the fields of immersive visualisation, interactive narrative, and human interaction design. It is located in iCinema's Scientia Facility.See also
- Dennis Del FaveroDennis Del FaveroDennis Del Favero is an Australian artist and professorial fellow. He has been awarded numerous Artist-in-Residencies and Fellowships, including an Artist-in-Residence at Neue Galerie Graz and an Australian Research Council Australian Professorial Fellowship...
- T VisionariumT VisionariumT_Visionarium is an art installation by Neil Brown, Dennis Del Favero, Matthew McGinity and Jeffrey Shaw and Peter Weibel developed through the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research at The University of New South Wales in co-operation with ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.In...
- New mediaNew mediaNew media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
- New media artNew media artNew media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
- Digital mediaDigital mediaDigital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...