KARMA / X © Kurt Hentschläger
KARMA / Cell © Kurt Hentschläger
KARMA / X is a “living” environment, an audiovisual installation in constant flux.
What started as an adaptation turned out to become the next generation of the Karma series, which further examines the patterns of interaction and regeneration in a closed system: the weightless cluster of a swarm of clones trapped in a 20m high virtual tank.
The work unfolds within a scripted framework, in which periods of activity are followed by periods of stillness. The installation comes alive as a flock of humanoid 3D figures attracting and repelling one other ceaselessly.
The figures crash into one another only to be pulled apart again by massive gravitational forces. These forces play out inside what appears to be a tall holding tank, creating a choreography of vertical motions in upward and downward swings. The movements of the characters are also expressed as droning sounds, which together create a spatial, pulsating microtonal cloud.
KARMA / X premiered at Grand Palais, Paris (France) as part of "dans la nuit, des images" exhibition in December 2008.
Karma / X by Kurt Hentschläger
Max <> Ogre[Bullet] Engine programming
Rob Ramirez
3D Modeling, Rigging, Texturing
Chris Day
Production Assistance
Shane Mecklenburger
Thanks to
Claudia Hart, Richard Castelli & Epidemic
Commissioned by
LE FRESNOY - Studio national des arts contemporains, for “Dans La Nuit Des Images”,
Grand Palais Paris December 2008.
KARMA/cell
KARMA is a “living” environment, a procedurally changing audiovisual installation.
KARMA follows a non-linear progression in which moments of commotion are followed by periods of meditative peace. The installation comes alive via humanoid 3D figures suspended, often seemingly unwell, trembling and oscillating. Their movements emanate a drone-like sound-scape. The 3D characters are presented as puppets on strings, instilling them with a familiar yet ambiguous sense of human life, resulting in an indefinite dance of the almost living dead.
"Karma" is incidentally the name of the physics simulation unit within Unreal Tournament, a multi player computer game. "Karma" in UT or similar “3D real-time engines” describes the simulation of physical laws like gravity & kinetic forces.
In KARMA / cell, the motions and actions of the 3D characters synthesize through an additional sound software, a dynamic sound-track composed on the fly. The characters each are a discrete musical instrument and become, through their “motions and emotions,” part of a symphonic, multilayered body of sound. Both the realtime synthesis of the characters motions and their sounds build, within the scripted frame defined by the artist, an endlessly changing variety of emotional expressions.
KARMA / cell © Kurt Hentschlager
Max & Unreal Scripting
Michael Ferraro
3D Modeling, Rigging, Texturing & Shading,
Richard Le Bihan
Production
Isabelle Bohnke
Thanks to
Claudia Hart, Friedrich Kirschner, Stephane Dalbera, Eric Pringent, Christophe Kihm
Commissioned by
LE FRESNOY - Studio national des arts contemporains
KARMA/cave
Interactive, stereoscopic CAVE version designed for the CAVE, Ars Electronica Center, Linz (Austria) in 2004
Developed for the “Cave” @ Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria, where it is now part of their VR collection. KARMA / cave is a procedurally driven environment, where the user can interact with humanoid 3D characters by means of a very reduced set of actions: either by grabbing or dropping them. A spectator can walk around merely studying the unfolding scenes and tableaux, or act upon it by grabbing or throwing the virtual characters. The work is intimate by means of the stereoscopic “real” 3D quality of the characters, making one feel like one is sharing the same space with them. Their behavior is dark, even grim, though finally, towards the end, the characters seem to exude some sense of peace and weightlessness. One could say KARMA / cave starts from a moment of unreal death and from there, “post mortem” so to speak, becomes a site of the undead, an amusement park in the dark of sorts, a behavioral training ground, the characters, frozen in a perpetual moment of loss of control, creating an uncomfortable sense of relatedness to them. Karma is incidentally the name of the physics simulation unit within Unreal Tournament, a multi player computer game. "Karma" in UT or similar “3D real-time engines” describes the simulation of physical laws like gravity & kinetic forces.
KARMA / cave © Kurt Hentschlager
Unreal engine programming and Mise-en-Scène
Friedrich Kirschner
3D character design Supervisor
Claudia Hart
3D Character Designer
Josh Bapst, Richard le Bihan
Thanks to:
Claudia Hart, Friedrich Kirschner, Ballet Preljocaj - Karma evolved out of my
contribution to “N”, a contemporary ballet, Lotte Hentschlaeger, Ursula
Hentschlaeger, Zelko Wiener, Richard Castelli, Florence Berthaud, Sarah Ford, Carl
Goodman, Gerfried Stocker, Horst Hoertner, Michael de la Pena, MEDA™ - Neuer
Sinn Neue Kraft.
Commissioned by
ARS ELECTRONICA Festival Linz
