Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) Technology Media Platform is once again presenting FUTURE VISION LAB. This project was launched last year with the construction of the DOME in C-LAB to bring all-new sensory experiences. FUTURE VISION LAB 2021 takes place during C-LAB Future Media Arts Festival, from October 8 to November 28, over eight consecutive weekends. It includes 14 programs and the Stargazing Lecture. Some of the programs were commissioned and some were self-produced, while others were selected through an open call. They incorporate sound, images, music, theatre, and hand-drawn animation to spark creativity and to break through the existing imagination of creation and technology.
Exploring Visual Limits of Technology Media, Creating Immersive Audiovisual Experiences
In 2020, after its establishment, C-LAB Technology Media Platform launched the FUTURE VISION LAB experimental exhibition and performance project to explore the visual limits of technology media. Based on the concepts of digital architecture and through collaborative research and development with the NYCU Graduate Institute of Architecture, the DOME, a performance space measuring 12 meters in diameter was built. Spherical projection involves multiple complicated techniques, such as warping, edge blending, mapping, play control, and video production, through which FUTURE VISION LAB enables the audience to fully immerse in the performances.
Domestic and International Artists Produce All-new Works
Domestic and international artists were invited to develop works for FUTURE VISION LAB 2021. Japanese artist Atsushi TADOKORO, known for his use of color and mesmerizing particles that shine and continuously change, brings an all-new work entitled Consonance and Dissonance. Harmonious and disharmonious musical chords respond to the current state of society in which peace and conflict coexist. Alex GUEVARA is a Peruvian artist based in Germany. In his work, Transient, he makes use of the irregular rhythms and textures of light and sound, highlighting the moments when microscopic elements are born from nothingness. Co-coism’s HUANG Ding-Yun and HUNG Chien-Han challenge preconceived concepts of theatre in Flesh Gods with a return to the most basic performance medium, the body. The durational performance is created within the DOME via cameras attached to performers to achieve 360-degree cinematography effects. These continuous images are pieced together, resulting in giant flesh frescoes. In addition, C-LAB collaborated with the National Taichung Theater, together inviting TIAN Zi-Ping and William KUO to co-produce The Sun. With the weaving of ring lasers, dynamic machines and the dances, the work explores the coexistence of machines and the corporeality, as well as the tacit relationships between technology and humans.
Open Call for New Media Works
This year, for the first time, an open call led to the selection of eight diverse works. One is L'alter-monde by French art duo Sandrine DEUMIER and Myriam BLEAU. By combining incomplete human forms with branches, flowers, and leaves, it reflects on the role of humans in the natural world. Nulls Design’s On Earth Series: Dome departs from the concept of life and natural forces, proposing questions about the human values. New media creative team XTRUX presents Reincarnate Island. By incorporating traditional Taiwanese folk beliefs of three souls and seven senses, they discuss the association between “consciousness” and “the physical body.” CHAO Pei-Yu has long observed the relationships between the Internet and self, integrating generative art and the process of plant growth in Concurrent of Root(s) to investigate how humans produce connections and interfere with one another due to the Internet. HUANG Wei, CHENG Dao-Yuan, and WONG Kuok-Pan jointly present INNERSTAR 01: Reddening. With relevant data produced during the phenomena of reddening serving as reference information for images and sounds, it encourages the audience to find the moment that belongs to them. The work of Musician Sandra TAVALI (LI Wuan-Chin), Ban Shan, describes the dream of a young Ba Jia Jiang medium and includes WonderGym’s video creations and LIN Yen-Chun’s Taiko drum performance, showcasing the DOME’s acoustics. Artist CHUANG Ho’s experimental hand-drawn animated work Night Walk invites the audience to experience a bout of insomnia, during which they seemingly enter a dream-like trance then slowly awaken. In HETEROTOPIA: Dome, new media collective NANONANO re-decodes and compiles electron signals, demonstrating the possibilities for electron microscope images through different forms of digitized visual presentation. By incorporating the characteristics of the DOME, an immersive viewing experience filled with spectacular landscapes is created.
Continuing Industry-academia Collaborations, Bringing back a Popular Program
Collaborations with academic institutions began in 2020. This year, in cooperation with the Department of New Media Art, Taipei National University of the Arts and the Department of Communications Design, Shih Chien University, an immersive audiovisual workshop has been organized for students to create performances for the DOME. Last year’s Stargazing Lecture was well received and will be held again this year, transforming the DOME into a starry sky. Moreover, the Technology Media Platform and Golden Melody Award-winning musician Blaire KO have teamed up to produce Re-Generative:: update(). The audience is invited to bring their own earphones to enjoy this 3D immersive sound performance. As they walk through this space, images change in real time, constructing exclusive and personal audiovisual experiences.
FUTURE VISION LAB 2021 takes place from October 8 to November 28 with different programs and activities to be held each weekend, sponsored by the Taiwanese projector manufacturer Optoma and supported by the National Center for High-performance Computing with the world-class cloud computing capacity of the render farm. All are welcome to enjoy these audiovisual performances.
