VRinMotion

VRinMotion investigates how characteristics of analogue stop-motion animation and data sets of motion- capturing can be adapted as expanded animation in the current art discourse. Through experimental combinations with virtual reality, the project creates new tools and workflows in order to explore their artistic potential. Traditionally, stop motion is an animation technique in which static elements are captured by single frames, creating the illusion of movement during the projection. M otion-capture is a tracking technique used to record motion in order to be applied to any selected object or character. Both cinematic techniques were either established at, or even before, the beginning of film history and have always combined artistic spheres such as photography, fine arts, performance and theatre. Virtual reality is either described as an immersive mental experience, as a three-dimensional display or and innovative interaction device. VRinMotion explores the possibilities of different analogue stop-motion techniques (cut-out, object animation and pixilation), combines it with data sets of motion capture, and implements it within virtual reality set-ups. It creates hybrid artistic tools and workflows that will initiate ideas for animation artists in virtual reality environments and systematically explores possibilities to connect artistic performances of creators directly to the experience of spectators during the act of creation. The project expands artistic stop-motion and motion-capturing concepts in the fields of virtual reality, expanded cinema and animation, media arts and performance. Furthermore, it contextualizes the artistic virtual and hybrid experiences with philosophical, theoretical and analytical concepts, models and methods of animation studies. VRinMotion is hosted by the Institute Creative\M edia/Technologies (IC\M /T) at the St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in collaboration with Vienna-based artist studio lichterloh. Within the project four experiments called ExperiMotions are set up and artistic workshops are developed together with internationally established animation artists, national and international collaborators and students. The project employs all three qualities from Henk Borgdorffs (2006) definition of arts-based research and is moving simultaneously through the theoretical Research on the Arts, the technical Research for the Arts and the practical Research in the Arts approach. Therefore, all ExperiMotions will result in artistic outcome, hybrid instruments and theoretical contextualization and will be discussed with experts in public, aiming to connect Austrian artists and researchers with the global research community. To embed VRinMotion in a broad academic, artistic and public discussion, the project also includes an online presentation, an accompanying documentation, and the final exhibition and symposium inMotion Forum.

VRinMotion investigated how characteristics of analog stop-motion animation can be adapted as expanded animation in the current art discourse. Through experimental combinations with virtual reality, the project created new tools and workflows to explore their artistic potential. Traditionally, stop motion is an animation technique in which static elements are captured by single frames, creating the illusion of movement during the projection. This technique was created before the beginning of film history and has always combined artistic spheres such as photography, fine arts, and performance. Virtual reality is described as an immersive mental experience, a three-dimensional display, or an innovative interaction device. VRinMotion explored the possibilities of different analog stop-motion techniques (cut-out, object animation, and pixilation) and implemented them within virtual reality set-ups. It created hybrid artistic tools and workflows that sparked ideas for animation artists in virtual reality environments and systematically explored ways to connect creators' artistic performances directly to spectators' experiences. The project expanded artistic stop-motion to the fields of virtual reality, expanded cinema and animation, media arts, and performance. Furthermore, it contextualized artistic virtual and hybrid experiences within the philosophical, theoretical, and analytical concepts of animation studies. VRinMotion is hosted by the Institute Creative\Media/Technologies (IC\M/T) at the St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in collaboration with Vienna-based artist studio lichterloh. Within the project, four experiments, called ExperiMotions, were set up, and artistic workshops were developed in collaboration with internationally established animation artists and national and international collaborators. The project employed all three qualities from Henk Borgdorff's (2006) definition of arts-based research and is moving simultaneously through the theoretical Research on the Arts, the technical Research for the Arts, and the practical Research in the Arts approach. Therefore, all ExperiMotions resulted in artistic outcomes, hybrid instruments, and theoretical contextualization that were discussed with experts in public, connecting Austrian artists and researchers with the global research community. To embed VRinMotion in a broad academic, artistic, and public discussion, the project also included an online documentation on the research website, YouTube, and social media. Furthermore, several presentations were given at animation and media festivals and at academic symposia.