On Zoomology: Claudia Hart Accepts ESport Prize for Alice Unchained
CNMAT-affiliated artist Claudia Hart received an award from the Esports Digital Art Prizes for 2019. Her acceptance of the award included the creative reuse of ZOOM's virtual background feature. The acceptance video went viral and points to a playful emerging art practice in the time of crisis -- something Hart calls ON ZOOMOLOGY.
The award-winning work, Alice Unchained, consists of a rendered movie for 3 channels and a virtual experience on the Vive platform. Music is by Edmund Campion, with motions captured from choreographer Kristina Isabelle and professional wrestler Isaias Valasquez, combined into a single avatar.
In Alice Unchained the human body is destabilized, morphing male and female genders as well as the machine and organic into a Cyborg hybrid. So too the music. Similarly hybrid, human drummers follow a digital click-track of computer-generated, artificial sound. The result is a liminal halfway world, somehow transcendental and contemplative.
Music Composition: Edmund Campion, Director, CNMAT
