interactive Installations & Workshop

Character Design meets Movement Research

DE:HIVE Institut Berlin

Character Design meets Movement Research

Methods and techniques from Game Design meet the individual expression of human body movement

  • Interactive Exhibition
    September 17 and 18, 2022, 11am - 9.30pm
  • Workshop
    „THINK Real Bodies“ [IN ENGLISH]
    by Keiken
    Hands-On exchange about physicality, realness, experiences & digital interaction in the exhibition
    Sat, September 17, 2022, 4pm - 5.30pm, limited capacity, first come first serve

What cognitive space is created when our individual movements are digitally abstracted? Whatever space we are in: On stage, in a game, on the web, in nature - our body is the interface where all realities come together, are perceived, filtered, reflected and classified. With our body we express ourselves, experience, operate, control and negotiate the world. We identify with our bodies and yet get used to permanently assuming other identities. We give ourselves other names in chat forums, we look for other bodies on Twitch, we swap genders and skin colors. As if from a construction kit, we choose offsets that complement, contrast, or question our identities and reshape ourselves.

To what extent are our characteristic movements still attached to us when they can be digitally recorded, and duplicated? How do we experience our bodies when they are augmented by new digital body parts? What interactions interest us when game mechanics are thought of choreographically? And what can we learn from digital representations whose movements we try to control?

Designing characters not only through looks and abilities, but through movements, postures, and gestures is an interesting playground for game design. On the other hand, digital representations produce new bodily experiences and hybrid interaction possibilities for dance performers and audiences.

The digital exhibits on display capture bodily movements, experimentally take them apart, playfully reassemble them, or embed them in a context of rules. They show approaches for "embodied game play", the control with the whole body, and offer the opportunity to deal with "avatar embodiment", the identification with a game character.

All works were created in the project cross:play* at the DE:HIVE Institute of the Game Design program at HTW Berlin in an interdisciplinary exchange with dance makers and with the kind support of DOCK 11.

Concept & Project Management: Anna Henschel & Max Warsinke

With participation of: Alba Álvarez, Lena Bösch, Cyrill Callenius, Eleni Danesi, Florian Felix Giese, Fabian Kozielski, Zinnia Nomura, Julian Nowak, Baris Pekcagliyan, Warja Rybakova, Pia Seel, Katharina Siemsen, Irina Shutova, Harald Stojan, Beka Tcharbadze.

Thanks to: Thomas Bremer, Bine Roth, Kirsten Seeligmüller, all DE:HIVE colleagues

Photo: Irina Shutova

The project cross:play is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the framework of the program „Stärkung des Innovationspotentials in der Kultur - INP II" of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Vorschaubild Video

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Video about the project and the exhibition.