Media Clown

Digital Media and Live Performance

Peer-Reviewed Outcomes/Dissemination:

The total amount of grants received to date is $102,050.00.

Major grants of note include:

1. 1. • $25,000.00 external grant from Epic Mega Grants, a highly competitive grant to “support game developers, enterprise professionals, media and entertainment creators, students, educators, and tool developers doing amazing things with Unreal Engine or enhancing open-source capabilities for the 3D graphics community”
      • $18,000.00 development grant for Interdisciplinary Research from the Obermann Center at UI
      • $2,000.00 Provost Investment in Strategic Priorities Award at UI.

Photo Gallery:

Videos:

Key Creative Team:

Co-PI, Co-Creator, Co-Producer, Performer: Paul Kalina

Co-PI, Co-Creator, Director of Technology: Matthew Ragan

Co-Creator, Lead Writer: Leigh M. Marshall

Co-Creator, Co-Head of Art Department, Costume & Character Design: Chelsea June

Co-Creator, Co-Head of Art Department, Physical & Virtual Set & Lighting Design: Courtney Gaston

Co-Creator, Associate Director, Director of Marketing & Alternate Storytelling: Sarah Lacy Hamilton

Head of Audio & Sound Design & Integration: Bri Atwood

Associate Director of Technology, System Integration: Travis Kelley

Assistant Director of Technology & Lens Studio Character Development: Emily Berkheimer

Stage Manager: Jordan Jones

About:

Media Clown (think Keaton, not Bozo) is an ongoing, devised research project that includes live, digital, and hybrid in-person performances. This interdisciplinary research team has members from theatre, art, engineering, and computer science, with collaborators from Industry working with UI faculty, staff, current students and alumni. The purpose of the project is to integrate the newest digital technologies, specifically motion capture, Augmented Reality and real-time systems, with traditional/theatrical clown techniques. How does the analog clown remain relevant in the digital age and interact with audiences using digital technologies? What is the nature of the codependency between live, physical performance and live digital media systems? How can clown blur the lines between real and imaginary spaces while holding up a mirror to our advanced technological society?

The clown’s history and importance to community is diverse and spans the ages - from the shaman clowns (Heyokas) of the Hopi and Lakota tribes, to the court jester, to the clowns of Vaudeville (Abbott and Costello, The Marx Brothers) to the current clowns of Cirque du Soleil and those on stage like Bill Irwin and David Shiner (Fool Moon, Old Hats). The clown exists to join us to our shared humanity. Emerging and digital technologies are changing how we connect with our communities and in today’s rapidly changing world of entertainment, the centuries old artform of the analog clown is losing relevance to a modern audience. Yet the clown has always evolved with the times, from the streets to the circus ring to the theatre and eventually film (Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin) and television (Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett). In order for "the clown [to remain] a recognizable figure who plays transformative and healing roles in many diverse cultures” (Proctor), there is a need for the clown to evolve yet again for the native digital-generation.

One artistic strength of the clown lies in their ability to response to an audience in real time. The performer must read the audience and shift on a dime to tailor the performance on any particular night in order to create a communal experience. For this reason, live clown shows have avoided immersing their performances in technology because it was not facile enough to respond to audience reactions and make each performance unique. Media Clown tackles this problem by working with motion capture and real-time systems in order to eliminate this obstacle and expand the traditional performance space beyond the stage to include audience space, shared virtual spaces, audience control of digital avatars and other special digital media effects. According to contemporary performance scholar Adrian Heathfield, performance has shifted aesthetically from “the optic to the haptic, from the distant to the immersive, from the static relation to the interactive.” Media Clown explores the underlying ideologies at the heart of this paradigm shift by using motion capture, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and new integrated real-time digital media systems to create interactive, hybrid digital/physical spaces, which allows audiences to become directly engaged and physically involved in the story, thus connecting them with the clown and each other through technology.

Read a full history of the project here.