An installation featuring motion data from five dancers, projected images, and a mobile robot, presented in two physical exhibition spaces and online. More than a transposition of real expression in virtual space, the project was a hybridization that sought to create an environment for a new breed of humanity from multiple perspectives. Within the main exhibition space, five cubes moved autonomously, while an autonomous mobile camera filmed the space. The camera captured the projection visuals that cascaded across the walls and floor. In the front exhibition space, this footage was displayed in real time, showcasing AR-synthesized dancers. Visitors were afforded a curiously palpable experience of dancers who otherwise existed only as video and motion data. 

An online exhibition was created from the installation data, creating a multilayered window on the work in real, virtual, and online spaces. 

1. Mobile robots 

A stage area measuring 27 m wide and 7 m deep was blanketed with images covering the entire floor and wall surfaces. Five 90 cm cubes ran inside this stage area. An infrared camera was used to precisely detect the cubes’ positions and prevent collisions. 

2. Multilayered exhibition 

In front of the stage, we displayed video of dancers dancing amongst the cubes, replete with AR effects elucidating the dancer and cube movement. 

Whereas such performances are typically only presented to viewers as a completed video, this installation sought to simultaneously demonstrate the underlying staging mechanism. By watching the performance unfold in real time, the viewer was given a heightened sensation that the AR dancers were actually present onstage with the cubes. 

This look behind the curtain complemented the completed performance shown in the preceding room and gave viewers a multifaceted understanding of the installation. 

The online exhibition provided yet another way to visualize the same space in 3D, drawing on cube positioning data, dancer motion capture data, and more.