Arts/Sciences#7: Philippe Bekaert & Eric Joris

We all know the freedom of navigating in a game based on 3D computergraphics. Will it ever be possible to experience or navigate a movie or a video the same way? This was the wild dream which brought researcher Philippe Bekaert and artist Eric Joris together in 2003.

They conceived a configuration which by combining omnidirectional video and an interactive display enables spectators to be at the inside of the image, to be at the heart of the experience. They pioneered so called immersive performances which strangely enough remain closer to theatrical performance than that they do to cinema.

Their first one, ‘Crash’ produced a hype in 2004, not only because of its novelty, but because the medium seemed inherently to generate out-of-body effects.  They took these phenomena further in the full live ‘headswap’ -performances. Some examples: ‘Crash’ (2004), U_Raging Standstill (2005-2006), O_Rex (2007-2008), EUX (2008), Double U (HeadSwap 2008), Line Up (2009).

Their technological and artistic research is embedded in several European Programs and partly funded by the Flemish Community.

Philippe Bekaert is professor at the Expertise Center for Digital Media (Hasselt University)
Eric Joris is an artist and leading the CREW-collective of scientists and artists. 

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