The lights also performed different gradient effects; some sequences went from yellow to red or red to blue as you looked across the walls.

Originally, we wanted to create a night sky installation above the audience. We imagined that the structure would be similar to a net. This idea caused a number of logistical issues that had to be thought about; how to rig up enough line while retaining tension was the first roadblock. Potentially shirring the fabric was floated as an idea that would cut down on the amount of square feet that needed to be covered.

Ultimately, though, we couldn’t put our project above the audience with the amount of time and resources we had. Instead, we decided to create a large ring structure and have it support the fabric like a canopy. This would allow us to project light from within it onto the walls, creating the starry night effect we wanted through a different means.

We tested out three different types of fabric for our structure, hand-cutting the shapes at first to see how they would turn out . Waterproof black canvas was opaque enough that the shapes we cut into it retained their definition. There was a small amount of scrap Mylar that we thought might cast interesting reflections; however, it crinkled easily and was rather flimsy, and wasn’t that different from the canvas.

We would later decide to order and use black ripstop for our final piece. But for our first few test runs, we used the canvas. We took a large section of the fabric and lasercut different-sized circles into it, to determine which size and spacing of shapes would give the desired effect.

The finalized fabric had astroids cut into it, instead of circles, because they were similar to the traditional star shape and could reinforce our theme.

For the ring structure, we didn’t connect the four main segments with screws but instead used clamps. Doing so made it easier for us to get our project in and out of the space for rehearsals. And if any troubleshooting needed to be done with the ring segments, we didn’t have to disassemble the entire structure to do so.

Which turned out to be quite fortunate the first time we fully assembled the ring; some of the segments weren’t connecting properly and needed to be narrowed, something we might not have realized had we just screwed everything together.

This project demonstrated the challenges of building a site-specific project. Because the heights of our supports were dependent on the height of the steps within the theatre, and we didn’t have access to a detailed floor plan, a lot of time was spent trying to get into the space just to find different measurements. If we’d committed to our final idea earlier, we could have had more work time.

Because so much attention was paid to building the structure, we also didn’t consider movement for a long part of the process. Using the capstan, we were meant to pull on the fabric to make the shapes change size. During the final performance, the code for the capstan kept glitching until it stopped working entirely.

Yet the light show itself turned out well, even though we couldn’t get the fabric to move; the DMX lights cooperated despite the difficulties during rehearsal and setup. The music we were paired with turned out to be a good fit for our project; its creepiness helped to define the mood and atmosphere we had put the audience in.

Through this project, we reinforced prior experiences with coding and soft sculpture. We also gained a wealth of fabrication skills. We learned how to utilize wood, wood glue, and power tools to create the wooden platform for the DMXs to rest on, the ring holding the fabric up, and the supports for the ring. Despite nobody on the team having prior knowledge of woodworking, we were able to figure out how to tackle the problems ahead of us to create solutions that were capable of consistently functioning.

1.Reflect and write about your final project and performance. Write about what it actually is, rather than what you intended it to be. In this section, do not write about mistakes, just write about what your project was as if you were to be seeing it for the first time.

The channel exhibited in the final performance appeared to be a sort of being that was using all of its strength move yet not being able to move much at all. Perhaps this living being, was just on the edge between life and death. The slow movements, in sink with the music, gave the impression that even the simple movements were seemingly draining. The movements resembled a breathing or crawling motion. The back lighting caused the channel to appeared as a volume, glowing from the inside. Perhaps the energy of the form was being translated as light for the audience to understand that there was some sort of “life” within the channel.

2. Reflect and write about your team’s process for creating your project. How did you develop your idea? How did the project change as you made it?

Anna and I started our project with the idea of a dress and sand somehow being combined. Over the course of several weeks, the form changed many times while our core idea stayed relatively the similar. When defining the goal of our project, we described that we wanted our piece to represent the transference of energy from one body to another.

The overall form changed many times from individual cones and eventually to the final form of a channel. The design process was influenced by the tools available, time, and our individual vision for what we wanted to create.

In the final weeks of the project we decided to abandoned the idea of having “energy” shown in a physical form, the styrofoam balls were complicating the project in a way that was limiting our movement. We decided to give up on that part of our idea and focus on the movement. The lighting and movement gave the channel character. On its own the channel appeared as a still mass, with additional movement and lighting it gained a life-like quality. This is unique to this sort of category of soft sculpture.

3. What did you learn through this project? What was successful? What would you change in the future?

It takes a lot of planning, testing, preparation to put together a successful performance. It is much better to find a project’s “weak points” earlier in the process because it will give some time to go back and edit some things. The closer one gets to a deadline, the more likely it is that certain things will go unresolved.

Our project required a fair amount of testing patterns and hoop sizes. In the final weeks of work we decided to make a “final” piece with hoops and fabrics pattern pieces that were all the same size, we later realized that this piece did not have nearly as much of a presence on the stage as the previous on. Upon this realization, we went back to our original idea of having a channel that does not fold over.

Knowing more about the rigging process and the patterns. I would have wanted to work more on the choreography and lighting. Unfortunately it was pushed aside and we weren’t able to spend as much time on it as we had wanted. Once we were ready to work on lighting, there were several obstacles standing in the way of testing. This is the nature of getting ready for a performance, it is important to always keep in mind that everything takes much longer than one expects it to take.

Our piece is a collection of four long strips of fabric that were animated through shirring and diagonal movement. The pieces appeared to be weaving between each other in mid-air.

Each piece was chosen from an array of the same color scheme and moved as its own individual body, but the pieces were clearly connected in both ability and appearance. The piece was accompanied by a musical arrangement from Exploded Ensemble, and the performance was guided by the tempo and mood of that arrangement. It started with slow, methodical movements of the fabrics, and as the tempo rose, the movements became rhythmic and quick. The piece used simple lighting changes to allow for different spotlights on fabrics and the transitional stages to shift focus, as well as the starting scene with lights fading in and the ending scene with lights fading out. For most of the parts, only one or two pieces of fabric are moving at the same time. At some points, only one piece of fabric was visible.

Process

Our initial idea for the project was to have a pole-climbing contest between several fabrics, each piece of fabric representing one instrument or one section of music in the accompanying piece. It progressed to having diagonal or multidirectional poles instead of only vertical ones. After a simulation with the diagonal crossing pole idea, we realized that the fabric will appear to be weaving into each other, which is a more complicated and interesting action than climbing, so we shifted our focus from climbing to weaving. However, actually weaving the fabric would create many other problems. The lines crossed would get tangled once there’s more than two pieces of fabric, and if the fabric was caught by another fabric, the fabric would be stuck with the other one, which is totally opposite of what we want. To solve this problem, we had to add distance between the base of the lines, so the lines are not actually weaving into each other, but from the audiences’ perspectives it would appear that they were.

Reflections

(Martha) I found that finding a way to create expressive movement was the most difficult part of this project for me. Trying to find a way of actualizing the movements that I had imagined for the pieces was challenging for me because of the limited experience I had in the area of rigging this type of piece. At the beginning of the project, I became frustrated very quickly while experimenting with rigging setups because I didn’t understand the sources of various issues we’d run into. But after establishing a rigging setup and having some practice with the setting it up, I found it easier to make progress in other areas of the project, such as appearance of fabric, or the choreography of the individual pieces together.

I think ultimately our project was very successful in acting as its own piece while having enough interactivity to work with the musicians in an interesting way. I really liked having the music to provide a tempo and atmosphere and guide the performance, and I think one of the most successful parts of the performance aspect of the piece was that the movement wasn’t the same throughout the piece at all. In the beginning, as the tempo of the music was slow, the pieces also moved slowly and methodically. Then, in one of the most fast paced parts of the song, I turned up the speed and turned down the damping, which created a totally different effect from the movement in the beginning of the performance.

In terms of changes I’d make in the future, I would’ve liked to have had more practice performing with the musicians so that the choreography of the pieces would’ve been more intentional. I think generally we ran out of time to perfect the choreography in the piece, so just practicing moving the four pieces together would’ve made the piece stronger.

(Stephanie) In the initial stages of this project, we were always working with only two pieces of fabrics. Even though it was trying to get the setup right in the first place, it created challenges as we progressed because of the limited practice and time devoted to set up more than two pieces. Ultimately,  our performance was successful after giving up and changing some of the riggings we previously had. I also improved in terms of performing the project. Before the first rehearsals, I haven’t had too much experience with this kind of performance, so I would get easily nervous and frustrated when we encounter obstacles we did not expect, like counter-weights falling off, lines breaking, motor malfunctioning, etc. Through more practices and rehearsals, I learned how to perform even if something is not working as intended, and adjust/modify according to all kinds of unexpected activities.

We haven’t had all riggings solved until the last rehearsal we had, which in my opinion, was too risky, but the results we got from that rehearsal was quite pleasing. We were able to tune the lights and the actions of the fabrics with the music. The lights and shadows created scenes that were unexpected because it was the first time we incorporated lights pointing to all directions instead of focused in the center.

In the future, if I have a similar project, I wish I can collaborate with the musicians more. The lack of collaboration almost made the final performance improvisational. If we had more practice with the musicians, I feel like it would be a stronger performance with a more obvious connection among the fabric, the light and the music.

Performance Reflection

Our final performance exhibited the bobbing listless motion that is generated by a lighter than air sculpture. When the back lights first turned on they revealed a network of glowing streamers swaying and bobbing in mid air. The streamers were anchored to the silhouettes of what appeared to be balloons, which caught and reflected the light around their edges, but for the most part were entirely obscured. As the music began the sculpture began to move in a more intentional manner. One of the balloons was pulled to the side while rest of the network of streamers and balloons hesitantly followed gently bobbing and jostling against each other. Variations on this sort of motion continued for the duration of the performance with one or multiple balloons leading the network of streamers and balloons. Over the course of the performance the network was pulled further apart or allowed to cluster together and this seemed to change height of the piece in the air. The musical accompaniment had a strongly cyclical rhythm to it and this seemed to be mimicked in the repeating cycle of lighting changes. At some points in the performance the front lights were activated allowing the audience to see clearly the happy birthday messages on the balloons and also lighting up the musicians and stage.

The performance had an eerie dreamlike quality to it that emanated from the hypnotic music as well as the listless movement and the enigmatic quality of the back-lit balloons. The motion came across as mostly ambient rather than choreographed. The movement of the leader balloons set an overall direction while the ensuing bobbing and jostling of the rest of the network provided most of the visual intrigue. The dappled shifting effect that was used when the front lighting turned on added to the dreamlike quality of the piece and it was interesting to see some of the birthday messages fully illuminated for short moments; however the total illumination of the musicians and backstage felt somewhat immersion breaking.

Process

Initially, we found the idea of utilizing weightlessness alluring, as the lightweight nature of a fabric based piece would make this possible. Our idea for our final performance underwent a series of iterations, each of which based around the idea of exploring moving the fabric in unexpectedly weightless ways. Our first idea was the most literal and ambitious, involving using a series of balloons to suspend a large piece of fabric over the entire audience capable of dropping more balloons throughout our performance. We quickly found this to be overwhelmingly difficult and pivoted to focus more on demonstrating weightlessness more subtly. Still attached to the idea of audience interaction, we explored creating a smaller fabric structure suspended by balloons that we could move across the audience. While we liked this idea, we had arrived at its potential to late to undertake the technical challenges it would present and had to get more realistic. We eventually decided on what would be near to our final idea, a weightless structure confined to the stage that would start small and reveal its full form throughout a performance. After experimenting with some prototypes of varying structures attached to balloons by thread, we realized we wanted to make the balloons much more a part of the structure as opposed to simply tools to make it weightless. Running with this realization, we created our final design, a series of balloons all interconnected by fabric streamers, which we felt most communicated our goal of interesting weightlessness in addition to looking very much in place with the balloons.

What We Learned

Overall this project taught us more than we ever anticipated about orchestrating a performance. Working with another group of performers, being efficient on stage, etc were all skills that we learned quickly by doing. Interacting and sharing the stage with exploded ensemble was extremely successful, each aspect added to the sum of the performance. Additionally, we gleaned a lot of experience in working within a space, understanding show logistics and planning for success. In terms of potential changes, they lie mostly in planning. We would definitely be more careful to fully understand the scope of what we wanted our performance to look like very early on into the process, giving us far more time to implement and deal with technical challenges.

Our final performance was an exploration of light and inflation, where we would draw the audience’s attention between a slowly bouncing and breathing coral reef and a sea creature that slowly unfurled its tentacles. The performance began with the reveal of both the coral reef (with lights that ranged from purple to green in segments) and the sea creature (with all around the red lights). After initially alternating the light focus between the two inflatables, we then led into a reveal of the tentacles of the sea creature that eventually stretched out across the stage. Finally, after more light alternating between the inflatables, with a final chaotic explosion of lights, the piece ended quickly switching to all black.

Project Process and Development

Our concept initially began as an ambient piece, with the intention being that we would cover the walkways of the stage with a shibori coral reef that the audience would be forced to walk through to get to their seats. However, such a form factor posed many difficulties in terms of actuating, and in order to successfully make sure our fabrics were kinetic, we decided that we would incorporate a large coral reef inflatable around the stage which would be lit and actuated in conjunction with a stationary but interactive shibori fabric walkway.

The other major twist to our project came with the addition of another team member, after which we identified ways to merge our project with this other ideated project centering around an inflatable actuated monster on the stage. Our project concept adapted to incorporate a tentacle monster that unfurl its tentacles and stretch to interact with the coral reef below.

After initial tests, we had planned to cover the inflatables with small features resembling coral to add texture; however, as we were running out of time to the performance, Olivia suggested that we might use dyeing as a method to add texture to our piece more quickly. With her assistance, we were able to dye the coral reef and the tentacles of the sea creature to add color against the stark white of the inflatable cloth.

Additionally, because of the challenges of finishing the walkways in time with the inflatables, we decided to incorporate the shaped shibori intended for the pathways as patches of color around the reef to add additional color contrast and texture.

Project Reflection

All in all, we believe our project was visually interesting, especially when related to the tentacle reveal on stage. Moreover, the dye job suggested by Olivia made the inflatables much more interesting and were a big part of making the performance much more interesting to watch. The biggest learning curve in this project was discovering exactly how much time was needed to create and practice the inflatables and performance; with better time management, we would have had the chance to test our project more during the rehearsals and thus have a better lighting plan ironed out (which led to some difficulties during the actual performance when the MIDI controllers stopped working).

•   9:00 Arrive A5 and start transport of equipment to Kresge
• 10:30 Deadline time for Stage Set-up and ready to go
  • Deadline time for Starry Night project set-up and ready to go
• 10:45 One hour timed dress rehearsal 
• 11:45 Dress rehearsal end, discussion, and clean-up

** Sat, May 4

• 4:30 Garth and students arrive at A5 to transport equipment to Kresge
• 5:30 Begin Stage Set-up (on stage groups help)
• 5:30 Begin Starry Night Set-Up (Z,L&C focus on own project)
• 6:30 Martha and Catherine start project setup on stage
• 7:00 food
• 7:30 Doors open for audience
• 8:00 show9:00 ACH show portion begins10:00 Clean-up

** Mon, May 6 – Finals
10:30am to 1:00pm on Monday in A5

** performance order for May 4 event Pushing Air

Link to Google Doc with Performance Order

Order of Performance:

• Worms           Help from: Balloons
• Starry Night    Help from: Reef
• Body            Help from: Worms
• Reef            Help from: Starry Night
• Balloons        Help from: Body

Each team work with their helper Stage Hands to plan what help they can be.

Optimize their rigging and derigging.

Practice where we are storing each different projects.

Practice where each team enters and exits.

For our performance, we decided to combine the venus fly trap idea with the limbs idea. There would be a venus fly trap creature at the center of the stage. Unlike an actual venus fly trap, which has its flaps moving up and down, we decided to go with left and right trapping/interlocking movements, such as when you interlock your fingers together. And surrounding the central creature would be the roots/limbs that move in their own repeated motions. Ideally, the limbs/roots would be off the ground. The venus fly trap creature would be hanging, but have it’s stem/body touching the ground and expanded/blown up with a fan. During the performance, we were thinking of a lunch hour situation, where smaller creatures from the back end of kresge move towards and gets consumed by the bigger creature on the stage. And once all the smaller creatures are consumed, the venus fly trap creature follows up with an ending dance that takes it to a food coma slumber.

A brief discussion of any specific roles assumed by individuals within the group:

• Nathan: Making of the roots/limbs surrounding the bigger structure
• Judy: Making the bigger structure/creature
• Both: Making the smaller creatures that would eventually be consumed by the bigger creature.

A listing of specific milestones: (We will be looking to see identifiable progress each week. Please carefully consider the ordering so that the greatest uncertainties are resolved early)

Week 1, 3/17: Development of smaller scaled fabric pieces based on the different parts. Reach an agreement with a final design. Start ordering pieces/materials for the final development if possible. Perform small scaled rigging test if possible.

Week 2, 3/24: Making measurements and cut/sewn-parts/shirring diagrams. Initial development of final piece. Have materials ordered by now. Perform small scaled rigging test and explore movement ideas.

Week 3, 3/31: Dyeing/Shibori Resist Dyeing parts of the bigger structure. Figure out size of balls/discs for shibori resist dyeing. Continual development of fabric pieces from week 1. Come up with a finalized performance idea/movement.

Week 4, 4/7: Putting fabric pieces together and further/final development.

Week 5, 4/14: Finalize developments of fabric pieces/creatures. Start rigging test of individual parts of the performance before doing rigging test of all the pieces.

Week 6, 4/ 21: Complete more tests and modify performance/rigging at Kresge.

Week 7, 4/28: Complete more tests and modify performance/rigging at Kresge.

An estimated “Bill of Materials” listing expected material usage and any special materials or parts to be acquired. We would prefer you work from our textile supply as much wherever possible, but there may be accessories you need.

• Dowels (¼” – ½”), 5 quantity
• Tubing (Amount TBD)
• Foam Balls(1”-2”), 20 – 25 quantity or Wooden Discs
• Muslin fabric from textile supply (Amount TBD)
• Polyester Organza fabric from textile supply (Amount TBD)
• One Fan
• String/Lines for rigging/attachments

For this performance we wanted to effectively utilize the space to its fullest potential. Since it is fully possible to use lines and capstans throughout the room to set up fabric above the audience, we wanted to take advantage of the potential for interaction and participation that this would bring. With this in mind, we arrived at an idea that we felt would best capture this while being realistically riggable. The central “theme” of our piece will be balloons. Using ones filled with helium we will be able to effectively suspend and control a massive piece of fabric above the entire audience without the unfeasible need for capstan lines on the ceiling. The helium balloons will be affixed in the center of the suspended fabric, with capstan lines at each corner, allowing for the possibility of iterating the, fabric through a flat form, to a cone like one when the lines are allowed to go slack. After realizing this potential, we considered the idea of using this as a way for the fabric to hold objects when flat, and release them to the audience as it changes shape. What better to put there than more balloons? This aspect would provide the audience interaction that we desired, as we could drop balloons inline with shifts in the Exploded Ensemble’s score. We hope that we can also make this process change with time, perhaps having more or less balloons drop at desired times by controlling how slack we allow the lines to get. This is the base of our idea, and if time and materials allow we are considering adding pleating to create a more interesting form for the audience.

Milestones:

3/22: programming test capstans to create desired iterations

3/28: measure theatre and create base fabric for performance

4/2: involve balloons

4/15: debug performance and rehearsals

Bill of materials:

-100 to 200 yards (must get more exact measurement of theatre) of fabric (likely cheaper option due to size, polyester likely)

-150 balloons (likely only need around 50 – 60, but wide margin in case of obstacles)

-Helium

-Line

-Small lights and batteries for inside balloons

Our proof of concept prototype began to explore how fabric can be suspended by a balloon. After purchasing a helium balloon we attempted to use it to suspend fabric in the air. One problem that we ran into very quickly was that one balloon could not hold very much fabric aloft. This made us realize that for a full scale version the amount of helium and the weight of the sculpture must be carefully calibrated. We realized that we will probably need more helium than we initially expected. Despite the small scale of the fabric we were still able to experiment with some of the movement that we hope to achieve. While we were not able to attach a pleated piece fabric we were able to experiment with the relationship between the pull of the balloon and the pull of four lines. We found that we were able to make the fabric change from a loose crumpled state to a stretched state with the lines. In this process the fabric would also move up and down. The resulting motions have an appealing listless almost dreamlike quality to them.

Storyboard

Textile Sketches

Concept Text

We were interested in the idea of having our performance “engulf” the musicians, in a massive, pink flutter of fabric. Inspired by the patterns and boning of victorian undergarments, we envisioned a campy, stage-sized skirt that would move freely above the stage and collapse around the performers.

Milestone List

Week of March 17th – Begin quarter-scale prototype (Using muslin and boning), collect fabric swatches

Week of March 24th – Complete prototype and begin modifying/finalizing original plan of construction, order materials

Week of March 31st – Make the digital files for the “skeleton”, start constructing the “skeleton”

Week of April 7th – Finish constructing the “skeleton” by the end of the week

Week of April 14th – Start making the patterns for the fabric, start cutting and pinning the fabric

Week of April 21st – Complete by end of week, start testing rigging

Week of April 28th – Test and modify rigging, preferably in Kresge

Bill of Materials

Fabric (sheer, fluid qualities ): $

Line: $

Weights: $

Boning: $

2. Proof-of-Concept Explorations (intended effect, surprises, discoveries, successes.)

Our intention was to create fluid up-down movement of the skirt, we quickly realized there were several issues with our first attempt. The fabric we chose did not have the qualities we needed to create the fluid motions we needed. The boning and rigging would need to be adjusted in order to maintain control of the layers as they moved up and down. Specifically, as our lines were disconnected from the boning on the prototype, the center of gravity for maneuvering the layers kept shifting, making it very difficult to control the arc of movement. In the future, we plan to secure the line to the boning, as well as provide another set of anchor points to balance the pulling motion.

4. Rigging Drawings

Storyboard

Sketches

Performance Concept

The performance starts with a huge ‘ball’ of fabric above the audience, and as the ball opens up, the smaller fabric pieces hidden inside the ball are then revealed. Our theme is the starry night. The ‘ball’ extends into a night sky, and manipulations with ‘stars’ and ‘moon’ will be done after.

Milestones

Week 3/19

• Finalize model of all elements using capstans
• Write individual code, if needed

Week 3/26

• Procure fabric
• Begin sewing the night sky element
• Practice rigging in the green screen area

Week 4/2

• Finish the night sky
• Begin work on the stars and moon
• Practice rigging the stars and celestial bodies together
• Introduce lights to practice rigging

Week 4/9

• Resolve kinks in the rigging
• Finish sewing all elements
• Work out final bugs in code, if needed

Bill of Materials

• 20 yards iridescent organza – $10.30/yard
• 20 yards lame/sequin fabric – $10.00/yard
• Kite wire
• Heavy duty clamps

Total cost: approximately $400.00.

Once we have a better understanding of Kresge Theatre, either through gaining access to the space or floor plans, we can have a better estimate of how much fabric is needed. The fabric prices listed are also taken from Amazon and online fabric retailers; it’s likely that we’d be able to find similar materials from Creative Reuse at a significantly lower cost.