Breath

This mocap data was around for a while. We first captured it for the Nearing project (collaboration with Norah Zuniga-Shaw, Vicky Blaine, and Mary Rathke). Technically this was done with optical mocap system (Vicon 8i), by placing facial (5mm) retroreflective markers on a piece of silk cloth, draping it over the face of performer who breathed through the fabric and made it move. The curious thing about mocap data is that same movement can look very different in different visualizations/embodiments. 

Breath is one of the most recognizable and simple movements produced by a living body, that is simultaneously an essential function and a means for communicating: gasping, hyperventilation, sighing makes different expressive statements about one's condition.

Studies below play on the edge of gesture, the quality of movement that makes it recognizable.

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Shifts in definition: space vs surface:

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Shifts in agency and complexity (secondary movement added)

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Figurative...

 

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