Flexible and precise digital control of the human body is one of the most important challenges in the development of fully automated dance and theatre. The IAAA Department of ArtiFacial Expression is focussed on basic research and artistic applications in this area.

The IAAA Department of ArtiFacial Expression develops new forms of algorithmic performance art which employ the human body as a computer-controlled display device. Our current investigations focus on the human face. We study the mechanisms of human facial expression, and build innovative muscle-control technologies. The results of our R & D are demonstrated in video-installations and live performances.

Personnel

Arthur Elsenaar: Face-Interface Technology, Hardware Design, Display Device.

Huge Harry: Lectures.

Josephine Jasperse: Photography, Video Recording.

Remko Scha: Word Processing, MIDI Software.

The Solenoids: Music.

Projects

        Demo's and  Video Installations

        Huge Harry's Lectures
             on Human Facial Expression

        Algorithmic Facial Choreography:
            Arthur & the Solenoids

     

Publications about ArtiFacial Expression

Andreas Broeckmann: "Een Inleiding" / "An Introduction" In: Andreas Broeckmann, Esther Hemmes, Marten Jongema & Sophie Tates: Deep Screen. Art in Digital Culture. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 2008, pp.144-155.

Arthur Elsenaar and Remko Scha: "Towards a Digital Computer with a Human Face." Abstracts. American Anthropological Association, 94th Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C., November 15-19, 1995, p. 139.

Arthur Elsenaar and Remko Scha: "Electric Body Manipulation as Performance Art: A Historical Perspective." In: Nicolas Collins (ed.): Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 12 (2002), pp. 17-28. [Special issue on Pleasure.] Cambridge, Mass.: the MIT Press.

Arthur Elsenaar & Remko Scha: "Morphology / Face Shift". In: Dmitry Bulatov: Evolution Haute Couture. Art and Science in the Post-Biological Age. Kaliningrad, Russia: National Centre for Contemporary Arts, 2009, pp. 86-87.

Mark B.N. Hansen: "Affect as medium, or the 'digital-facial-image'." Journal of Visual Culture, Vol. 2, nr. 2 (August 2003), 205-228.

Mark B.N. Hansen: "Affect as Interface: Confronting the 'Digital Facial Image'." In: Mark B.N. Hansen: New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004, pp. 127-159.

Huge Harry: "On the Mechanism of Human Facial Expression as a Medium for Interactive Art." / "Über den Mechanismus des menschlichen Gesichtsausdrucks als Medium für interaktive Kunst". In: Gerfried Stocker & Christine Schoepf (eds.): Fleshfactor. Informationsmachine Mensch. (Ars Electronica.) Vienna / New York: Springer, 1997, pp. 110-120.

Eric Kluitenberg: "Human Art is Dead. Long Live the Algorithmic Art of the Machine. A Mute exclusive Interview with Huge Harry." Mute 19 (February 1998), pp. 14-21.

Sophie Tates: "Remko Scha & Arthur Elsenaar"  In: Andreas Broeckmann, Esther Hemmes, Marten Jongema & Sophie Tates: Deep Screen. Art in Digital Culture. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 2008, pp.10-11, 55-60.

Stephen Wilson: Information Arts. Intersections of Art, Science and Technology. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2002. [Cf. pp. 35-51 ("Elaboration on the Approach of Art as Research"), pp. 149-200 ("Body and Medicine"), pp. 775-785 ("Speech Synthesis, Voice-Recognition and 3-D Sound").