LEAVE A TRACE @ UCI

LEAVE A TRACE @ UCI

ONLINE: http://trace.artlab.eco/uci

Launching on May 15, 2022 at 9:14pm PDT in conjunction with a total lunar eclipse of the full Flower Moon, "Leave a Trace" is a new online participatory artwork, emerging at a time when many students are interested in creating mementos of their time at UC Irvine. The objective of the project is to empower people to "leave a trace" of their presence on campus by using their mobile devices to capture a short video or still image of their personal engagment with one or more specific locations on the UCI campus. An online portal accepts videos and images uploaded by students and other participants, transforming the submissions into a series of ever-changing video artworks with characteristics responding to the locations.

The creative team consists of John Crawford (UCI faculty), Jes DeVille (guest artist) and JoVia Armstrong (UCI graduate student), who are filming a series of environmental dance and music segments called sitefilms at significant outdoor locations on the UCI campus. The sitefilm locations include Aldrich Park (e.g., special trees, rock features), Jao Family Sculpture Garden, Infinity Fountain and Water Table Fountain, among others. The dance segments are choreographed and performed by Jes DeVille, with particular attention to eco-embodiment and environmental engagment. The musical soundscape is composed and performed by JoVia Armstrong, including interactive elements that respond to movement data captured by sensors during the performances on location. Director John Crawford's custom software employs machine intelligence and computer animation techniques to complete the sitefilms, combining dance and music with video processing that responds to the movement captured on location.

On viewing the sitefilms on the "Leave A Trace" online portal, students are prompted to visit the locations for each film to record their own short video or capture images that respond to some aspect of that particular place, perhaps inspired by some aspect of the related sitefilm. They can access an online portal to upload videos and images. Through an automated process, Crawford's intermedia software system combines the submissions into a continuous dance and music montage, resulting in a continually growing representation of participants and their contributions to the project. All submissions are curated for appropriate content prior to being published online.

The "Leave A Trace" project is co-produced by Emergent Media Research Group and Eco ArtLab, and is made possible by generous support from UCI Illuminations.

Emergent Media Research Group

The Emergent Media Research Group (EMRG) is a faculty initiative in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at University of California, Irvine. With a focus on socially engaged artmaking, EMRG director John Crawford and associates want to do more than entertain people and create beauty for its own sake — they want to do these things in the service of relevant impact for social good. They feel it's essential for artists and designers to explore new forms of expression enabled by emerging technical capabilities such as kinetic media, interactive software, AR/VR (augmented and virtual reality), gaming, social media and speculative design. Directly engaging with new technologies in the context of artistic production can spark development of products and services for positive change. They believe that design methodologies oriented to developing creative solutions should be paired with artistic methodologies that can reveal problems and critique existing structures. More information at http://emrg.embodied.net

Eco ArtLab

Eco ArtLab is an independent nonprofit collective creating performances and exhibitions that enhance ecological awareness, engaging with new forms of expression enabled by the emerging media technologies of our time. Inspired by earth’s natural beauty, including aesthetics of human involvement, the creators of Eco ArtLab share a passionate desire to respond to the escalating crisis driven by the rapidly evolving human capacity to alter planetary ecosystems, embracing multi-dimensional approaches to a systems view of life in which humans are part of a larger, living whole. Eco ArtLab is committed to supporting climate justice through cultural frameworks that honor and respond to diverse voices from different communities, nourished and enabled by individual and collective commitment to creation, performance and exhibition. More information at http://artlab.eco

Jes DeVille

Jes DeVille is an Afro-Nuyorican choreographer and creative producer working across mediums to explore the intersections of physical fluency and environmental literacy through app-driven immersive events. DeVille founded fringe entertainment troupe Haus Serpens (est. 2011), later rebranding as Openhaus Athletics in 2017. Awarded the inaugural Updraft artist residency by vertical dance company Bandaloop in 2021, they continue to operate as Managing Director of site-specific performance nonprofit Epiphany Dance Theater after fulfilling positions as a corporate team building facilitator with urban adventure group The Go Game, production lead for SF City Hall Centennial, and choreographer for the PBS series Dragonfly TV – Kids Do Science and Big Bang! California Academy of Sciences After Dark. More information at http://www.danceoutdoors.com

JoVia Armstrong

JoVia Armstrong is a well traveled percussionist, composer, producer and educator. She is an endorsed artist with QSC, Sabian, Icon Pro Audio and Gon Bops. Detroit bred, she is winner of the 2014 Best Black Female Percussionist of the Year through the Black Women in Jazz Awards. And, she received the 3Arts Siragusa Foundation Artist Award in 2011 for her work as an educator. She released her debut album, "Fuzzy Blue Robe Chronicles" in 2009 and produced for JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, Malachi Rivers, and more. She’s a member and composer behind World /Jazz group Musique Noire. Their debut CD "Good Hair" was nominated for three Detroit Music Awards in 2008. Her composition from their second album, “Reflections”, was featured in Jazziz Magazine in summer 2017. More information at http://www.joviaarmstrong.com

John Crawford

John Crawford is an intermedia artist, performance director and systems designer. Engaging directly with the emerging technologies of our time, his work creates rich immersive environments and compelling interactive experiences through embodied interaction. His artistic projects are performed in theatres, exhibited in galleries and presented as interactive installations, featuring creative exploration of environmentalism, climate justice and community engagement. His work has been presented across North America and in Asia, Europe and South America. He has been a visiting artist and researcher at universities and other venues in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and India. He originated the Active Space concept with his software framework for intermedia performance, which he has continued to evolve and develop for over twenty-five years. More information at http://jc.embodied.net