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EMPAC’s New York City Debut
| On Monday, Nov. 17, Rensselaer unveiled plans for its Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) to an audience of artists, architects, media, and other invited guests. The event took place at The Duke, a black-box theater on 42nd Street. |
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President Shirley Ann Jackson, EMPAC Director Johannes Goebel, and London-based design architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw provided a firsthand look at the most recent EMPAC developments and a taste of what the performing arts center will offer to national and international communities. |
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| During a reception, guests viewed models of the $141.7 million building. The evening program also included two performances. Japanese-American dancer Tomie Hahn mingled through the audience to show off the wireless interactive dance system — an array of sensors on her body — she incorporates in many of her multimedia performances. The system, called SSpearPer (the Sensor-Speaker-Performer), allows Hahn, assistant professor of arts at Rensselaer, to create and blend various sounds using the motion of her body. The dance system was created by Curtis Bahn, also assistant professor of arts at Rensselaer. |
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Small Fish, an interactive musical-graphical composition, was performed by trumpeter Thomas Ratzek and computer player Kiyoshi Furukawa. Ratzek performed in front of a large video screen onto which colorful abstract shapes were projected. The movement of the shapes and the resulting music from the computer were interactively influenced by the tones of the trumpet. |
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To read more, go to the press release. To see models and renderings of EMPAC, go to http://empac.rpi.edu/ or http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm
/sub/empacpreview/index.html.
Photos by Steven Swerling
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