This project explores how new recording technologies such as immersive video, spatial audio, and motion capture can be used to document, preserve, and transmit embodied cultural practices of aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory regions of Australia.
Working closely with the community, the project team will capture communities’ ceremonial dances and music to help archive and preserve their cultural heritage.
By recording multi-modal data, producing educational material, and creating interactive immersive experiences, this work will also lead to the development of new frameworks for new media art practices and humanities scholarship.
Experiencing Embodied Cultural Practices is a joint undertaking by two University of Virginia faculty, Mona Kasra and Luke Dahl. Dr. Kasra is an Assistant Professor of Digital Media Design in the Department of Drama, and has done substantial work in examining identity and expression in digital media and performance. Dr. Dahl is Assistant Professor of Composition and Computer Technologies in the McIntire Department of Music, and has a background in computer-based music theory and composition and designing new interfaces for musical expression and gesture.
Their research interests have some overlap in emerging media, technologies in performance, virtual reality, but this project’s focus includes questions of the process of collaboration in multi-disciplinary projects, and the challenges and implications of hybrid scholarship.