J. Walt Adamczyk: Autocosm 2007
Artist(s):
Title:
- Autocosm 2007
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2007
Category:
Artist Statement:
This piece is a continuation of my ongoing Autocosm project, in which I create artificial worlds in solo live performances. An “autocosm” is a self-contained personal world, apart from the world we all share. In this case, it is a world of growth and evolution, of life and transformation. Evolution requires death. It requires erasure. There can be no evolution
without a continual process of creation and destruction. To make room for the new, we have to let go of the old. But we try to have the new informed by the old, so the new will be better. Life ends, and so we can only overcome death by starting the next generation. Performance is a fitting way to depict this instancy, for a performance is a fleeting moment in time, an iterative quest for perfection. It’s an act of a life caught between celebration and desperation. I attempt to create and perform and evolve a world in Autocosm. It’s about life. It’s about making a better world. And it’s about me, the performer, on my iterative quest. The world I create is only temporary. At the press of a button, all objects and beings, the whole of creation, are gone. Only a memory remains. But don’t worry. The next one will be better.
Technical Information:
Over the last few years, I’ve been exploring the domain of liveperformance animation. I want to keep my performances fresh for both the audience and the performer, so I utilize captured gesture, which allows me to improvise. But improvisation is foreign to CG production,so I’ve been developing ways to create and animate CG scenes with a “straight-ahead” approach. Because software design determines the methods of interaction, I perform using my own software, which I’ve tailored directly for my own use as performer. The core is written in C++ on top of OpenGL and DirectX, with the front end written in Python. The system runs on a
Windows box. My main input device continues to be a drawing tablet. Sometimes I use it to puppeteer my creations. Other times I draw in 3D while moving through and around the space (using a joystick or other device). This technique integrates placement of objects and creation of spaces with continuous changes of viewpoint. It allows for creating a space while simultaneously exploring it.
