the Fold: Episode III

"the Fold: episode III", installation involving 3D printed elements, characters for stop-motion animation, robots and VR headset, Hexagram, Montreal, QC 2024   

"the Fold: episode III" is a mixed reality multimedia installation involving elements from previous episodes of 'the Fold'. Blending the physical and virtual space, viewers can enter the virtual world of 'the Fold' through the VR headset and peer into the physical world via live video stream from the vantage point of the robots in the performance space. The behavior of these robots mimics the behavior seen in the virtual world of 'the Fold' as they are using the same neural model.

Additionally, humanoid Agents Qi/氣 and άλφα's stop-motion performances can be seen concurrent to their digital twins using their machine learning (ML) behavior as a point of departure. These performances are shown side-by-side within the virtual space thereby using ML to inform traditional stop-motion style but also juxtaposing animation between the physical/live-capture and the synthetic/virtual space.

This project is a result of a two-year insight development research in collaboration with Dr. Sofian Audry (http://sofianaudry.com) as part of the Canadian Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council's 'Insight Development Grant' and was produced with assistance of members of their lab (http://mxlab.uqam.ca): Etienne Montenegro, Gabriel.le Tran, and Marianne Fournier.

The robots used for this installation are part of the DIY Misbehavior Kits (https//misbkit.ensadlab.fr) developed by Samuel Bianchini and Filipe Pais.