Abigail De Kosnik Awarded an IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor Fellowship
Prof. Abigail De Kosnik has been awarded an IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor fellowship from the University of Bristol's Institute of Advanced Study. She will be in residence at the IAS from August 23 to September 22, 2018, conducting a research project called "Understanding Performer and Audience Interactions in a Multi-Person Virtual Reality," hosted by Dr. David Glowacki.
According to De Kosnik's fellow page:
During her visit, Prof. de Kosnik will participate in a series of workshops run by LMT in the Wickham theatre (from 10 – 21 September) to explore the performative and artistic possibilities afforded by a state-of-the-art multi-person virtual reality framework developed in Glowacki’s lab. The aim of these workshops is to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of experts drawn from the Arts and Science faculties in order to better understand the sort of interactions and technical design considerations that arise when a group of VR-embedded performers interact with VR-embedded audiences. In particular, we will attempt to understand: (1) the extent to which we can direct participants’ attention in a VR environment using motion and sound; (2) methods for creating expectations of where the “action” in the field is about to occur; (3) techniques for heightening participants’ sense of proprioception, given that our initial experiments show that VR offers many more affordances for experiencing proprioception (and thus, immersion and presence) than conventional 2d screen media; (4) how audiences engage differently with modes of VR performance that center around conflict vs. modes that are conflict-free; and (5) how variations of scripts and choreographies enable guides, hosts, instructors, attendants to interact with, teach, and lead audiences through a VR performance environment.
The Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorships is intended to bring premier researchers from across the world to the UK and enhance the research activity at the University of Bristol. This fellowship covers travel, accomodation and subsistence.
Visit the Institute for Advanced Studies — University of Bristol website here for more information.