GAPPP: Gamified Audiovisual Performance
and Performance Practice
"GAPPP: Gamified Audiovisual Performance and Performance Practice" was an artistic research project conceived and run by composer, audiovisual artist and project leader Dr. Marko Ciciliani.
Computer Games have become a fashionable area of research, which has been covered by many different fields of research in the humanities and in the arts. However, only to a comparatively small extent have computer game elements been explored in the realm of audiovisual composition and performance.
This research starts out with the assumption that player interactions and game strategies offer yet unexplored models that can be applied in live audiovisual works.
Game-interaction offers a large potential to create a liveness quality of a novel kind. This does not only concern the performer who is interacting with a responsive audiovisual system but can also engage an audience as “backseat-players”. This artistic research project therefore sets out to explore the combination of game strategies and performer interactions for its artistic potential beyond the mere imitation of computer games.
Goals
The goal of the research was to develop a thorough understanding of the potential of game based elements in audiovisual works. This affected the work on several technical levels – e.g. regarding the implementation of algorithms and the design of the interface – but also raises questions regarding the perception: how do we create a balanced perception of events taking place on a stage area and simultaneously on a virtual screen? How can the performer act as a mediator and involve the audience in the performance as “backseat-players”?
These questions had not been researched, yet, and they asked for an investigation from the point of view of artistic practice.
Methodology The research was carried out from three points of view which were the perspective of 1) the audiovisual composition, 2) the performer, and 3) the audience. A large number of questions had been identified that served as a methodological framework and points of reflection and evaluation during the process. Altogether seven teams of artists addressed the questions in their artistic research. The process was cyclical and included periodic evaluations and reflections. Having several teams working at the same pools of questions yielded different artistic solutions which could then be compared with each other for better insights.
GAPPP was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF as project PEEK AR 364-G24 and was located at the IEM – Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria. The project had a runtime of four years from 2016-2020.
