Jeremy Radvan

University of Brighton

I am a senior lecturer at University of Brighton Department of Visual Communication. My long-term research project is centered on the relationship between drawing and digital media. It began in 1997 and has involved an investigation into the qualities of digital media as a medium for drawing, encompassing real time drawing as part of dance performances and the development of custom written animation applications. My MPhil (the Use of the Computer as Tool for Observation , RCA, 2000) was primarily concerned with animation and my subsequent research including MSc Creative Systems at Sussex, was born out of a number of collaborative performance projects with dancers and musicians, the most important one, Avatar, being with Rajyashree Ramamurthi.

Abstract:
Drawing, coding and performance.

It is proposed that this paper should be accompanied by a performance with Rajyashree Ramamurthi and Jui Deogaokar at the Shoonya Centre for Art and Somatic Practices in Bangalore (http://www.shoonyaspace.com/events.html)
The performance will consist of a selection of readings from the Ramayana with live digital visuals and accompanied by traditional Indian music.

Both collaborators in the project are trained in Indian classical dance. Ms Deogaokar has links with the Shoonya Centre and Ms Ramamurthi is a dancer with whom I have collaborated over a number of years. Videos of these collaborations can be found on my Vimeo page.

The paper will describe the use of custom-written real time animation software written in the Processing coding language to investigate animation in live performance, animation as installation and the use of the software to produce illustrative animations.
It is intended to accompany a live performance of

The project investigated points of contact between drawing and dance such as gesture, expression and rhythm. A data projector was used to place live animation and dance in the same performance space through a series of performance projects. Digital devices such as a custom-written random video player and a digital implementation of the pre-cinematic visual game Myriorama were used to investigate non-linear narrative.

The paper will put forward a model of drawing that has two parts that exist at one instant; the precisely placed mark that is concerned with the topographical mapping of the subject and the expressive stroke that is concerned with the qualities of the medium.

This instantaneous balance between precision and expression creates indeterminacy that is expressed through a range of smudges, scribbles, pentimenti, sfumati and other forms of sketchiness. These express the characteristics of the medium.
The equivalent to the analogue sketchiness in animation is the flickering effect of “boil” in animation.
“Boil” is an artefact of the process of making animation from natural media.

In this project “boil” has become a controllable characteristic of the digital drawing medium that allows animation to be used for installation, real-time performance and animated illustrations.

Keywords: Drawing, Animation, Coding, Precinema

References:
1. KiIRSH, D & MAGLIO, P. On Distinguishing Epistemic from Pragmatic Action. Cognitive Science 18. (1994) P513-549.
2. FISH, J & SCRIVENER, S.(1990) Amplifying the Mind’s Eye: Sketching and Visual Cognition. Leonardo, Vol. 23, No. 1. (1990), pp. 117-126.