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Title:

Performing Live Graphics for Entertainment

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Fred Lakin, Designer, writer, graphics programmer
Description:
Graphic images can be performed live in front of an audience for entertainment. The images may be improvised or played according to a pre-determined plan (score). Improvised live is strongly preferred. And to be clear, performing graphics is NEVER, EVER PRE-RECORDED AND THEN PLAYED BACK (no viscotheque).
Questions
Answered:
  1. What is performing graphics?
  2. What does it looks like? (examples may be demoed by panelists)
  3. Isn't "performing graphics" just visual music? (very controversial)
  4. What is role of audio music in performing graphics? (also controversial)
  5. What are the best tools available right now for performing graphics?
  6. What features are missing from current performing graphics tools?
  7. What's the best way to learn performing graphics?
  8. What are the cultural and technical barriers to wider acceptance of performing graphics?
  9. OK, but is it *really* better than just playing pre-recorded graphics (viscotheque)?
  10. Can a graphicist actually generate images fast enough for live performance?
Level:
Advanced
Category:
Content
Type:
Panel
Event:
SXSW Interactive 2009
Rob Myers
on 16/8/08
Raster masters rule!
Fred Lakin
on 28/8/08
Yes they do. Apropos of which, at this time panelists will include Ron Fischer (Rastermasters), as well as Peter Broadwell (MIMI and the Illuminati), and Rob Myers (Plasm). Moderator: Fred Lakin (The Performing Graphics Company). More info on the panel topic at www.graphicperformer.com
James McGrew
on 29/8/08
What is this guy smoking!? This sounds so cool to me. I suspect not many people have thought much about what this could mean, of what is possible. We are talking about the intertwining of principles of jazz (improvization -- except visually instead of aurally -- though there is no reason sound could not accompany the visual effects) and art (drawing, painting, etc.) This could be, would be, a new artform combining the best of both worlds--Jackson Pollack plugged-in! This could be huge if we have the foresight to give it a chance. I would go nuts to see something like this at the conference. Think about the possibilities...
Fred Lakin
on 30/8/08
Exactly! Jazz improvisation meets Abstract Film (Oskar Fischinger et al). As for audio or not, controversial. One panelist says "Visuals first, music optional!" The others disagree strongly.
mike c
on 30/8/08
Picasso tried something like it years ago, but the tools to do it right weren't invented then. What would Picasso do if he were with us now and was given the chance to throw beam as envisioned by Lakin? I think Picasso would embrace it and create beautiful transcendent works of art. The chance to open the door to a new art form doesn't come often. Don't let it pass by.
Fred Lakin
on 30/8/08
Finally, it should be made clear that this panel is about *practice* first (although philosophy may creep in, doesn't it always?). As part of the proposal, SXSW urged me to list 10 concrete questions that will be answered during the panel, so here they are: 1. What is live visual blogging? 2. What does LVB look like? (the panel itself will be live visual blogged) 3. How does it change an event when it is live visual blogged? 4. What are the best tools available right now for LVB? 5. What features are missing from current LVB tools? 6. What's the best way to learn to do LVB? 7. How is LVB different than live entertainment graphics? 8. How does LVB help viewers understand the event content? 9. Yeah, yeah, but is it *really* better than just plain old live text blogging? 10. Can a live visual bogger actually draw fast enough for real-time performance?
Fred Lakin
on 30/8/08
OOPs, wrong 10 questions. Here are the ones for this panel: 1. What is performing graphics? 2. What does it looks like? (examples may be demoed by panelists) 3. Isn't "performing graphics" just visual music? (very controversial) 4. What is role of audio music in performing graphics? (also controversial) 5. What are the best tools available right now for performing graphics? 6. What features are missing from current performing graphics tools? 7. What's the best way to learn performing graphics? 8. What are the cultural and technical barriers to wider acceptance of performing graphics? 9. OK, but is it *really* better than just playing pre-recorded graphics (viscotheque)? 10. Can a graphicist actually generate images fast enough for live performance?
C Fry
on 30/8/08
Communication is at the core of human endevors.
We either succeed at meaningful communications or we kill ourselves.
Art is at tne frontier of communication innovation.
Although art is typically ambiguous, history shows that we experiment
with ambiguity in order to acheive new levels of definitive
descripiton. Though the title of this panel says, Live Grahics for
Entertainment, I submit that entertainment is just an entry application analogus to pornogrpahy on videotape. As live graphics are refined in entertainment, their utility for other purposes of knowledge transfer will become apparent.
Fred Lakin
on 1/9/08
Rich comment! Yes, I certainly agree that Live Graphics For Entertainment is just a gateway to other uses of the technology and the performer skills. This particular panel is about the *fine art* of performing graphics for a live audience. However the same tech/skills could also serve as the basis for an *applied art* (like the difference between the Mona Lisa and a magazine ad: one is the fine art of painting, the other is the applied art of graphic design, both using essentially the same medium = visual, non-digital, static, flat).
Paul Martiin
on 1/9/08
live viz is just one of those human endeavors that would have been with us in the caves except the tech wasn't there yet. It's just now arriving; the artform is enabled.
Paul
Fred Lakin
on 3/9/08
The artform is indeed enabled, and there are some great performers out there already. The point of the panel is put some of them up in front of an audience, have them talk about the technology and how they use it, and generally spread the word. And what better place than Austin to showcase a new emerging artform based on interactive digital tech that resonates so strongly with music and film?
Nike Air Force One
on 26/3/09
Great information
Nike Air Force 1
on 28/4/09
Awesome
Nike Dunks
on 5/5/09
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Nike Air Force 1 White lows
on 4/9/09
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Nike Air Force 1 White Mids
on 5/9/09
wonderful
Nike Air Force 1 White Black Lows
on 5/9/09
wonderful
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