Virtual Stage is a project to use Virtual Reality (VR) technology as an audiovisual performance interface. The depth of control, modularity of design, and user immersion aim to solve some of the representational problems in interactive audiovisual art and the control problems in digital musical instruments. Creating feedback between interaction and perception, the VR environment references the viewer's behavioral intuition developed in the real world, facilitating clarity in the understanding of artistic representation. The critical essay discusses of interactive behavior, game mechanics, interface implementations, and technical developments to express the structures and performance possibilities. This discussion uses Virtual Stage as an example with specific aesthetic and technical solutions, but addresses archetypal concerns in interactive audiovisual art. The creative documentation lists the interactive functions present in Virtual Stage as well as code reproductions of selected technical solutions. The included code excerpts document novel approaches to virtual reality implementation and acoustic physical modeling of musical instruments.

Audiovisual concatenative synthesis is an analysis-driven granular technique using a corpus of multimedia data to sequence audio and video streams on a microtemporal level. This text outlines my development of this technique as a tool for multimedia composition, using my work, Replica, as a case study. The paper illustrates how the concepts of granular structure, gesture capture, and replication are integral not only to the software but to the architecture of the composition. In doing so, machine learning approaches to music and visual art are reviewed and related to my personal compositional practice. Additionally, I attempt to show how audiovisual concatenative synthesis provides a composer with strategies for shaping one's sense of time through disorienting audiovisual cues and tightly organized counterpoint between sound and image, stage and screen, and the real and virtual.

Expanding on the concept of Richard Wagner's Gesamptkunstwerk, The War Poems was written to combine various elements for an intermedia composition, including music, five slide projectors, lighting, and costume. Text used in the piece was taken from the writings of the English World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Mixed richness communications occur when a participant in a conversation receives a different media or combination of media than they transmit. Mixed richness communications occur in the workplace when technical, physiological or practical limitations prevent the use of the same media on both ends of a conversation. Prior research in CMC has focused on same-richness communications, and the design guidelines that are available for same-richness communications may not be applicable to mixed-richness communications. This study attempts to establish a basis for understanding mixed-richness communications by evaluating same-richness communications using concepts and measures previously applied to mixed-richness communications Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984, 1986) defines the richness of a communication medium in terms of its ability to reduce uncertainty and equivocality. According to Daft and Lengel's task-media fit hypothesis, communications are most effective and satisfying when the media richness matches the level of uncertainty and equivocality in a task. Social presence is the perceived ability of a medium to transmit the social cues that lead to a sense that the medium is "warm, personal, sensitive, and sociable" (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976). Social presence has been suggested to be a predictor of user satisfaction for computer-mediated communications (CMC), and has been used as measure of media richness in previous studies (Rice, 1993; Yoo & Alavi, 2001). This study examined the effects of communication medium and task equivocality on task performance, communication effectiveness and sense of social presence. Pairs of participants were required to complete high and low equivocality collaborative tasks while communicating with each other using CMC. The communication media varied between participants. During some sessions, participants received and transmitted the same media (video-only or text-only). In other cases, participants transmitted text and received video or vice-versa. From the recorded transcripts of each user session was extracted task performance in terms of task time-to-complete and communication effectiveness in terms of the frequency of communication breakdowns. Based on the task-media fit hypothesis, it was expected that task performance and communication effectiveness would be affected by the interaction between communication medium and task equivocality. For the most part, task-media fitness was not confirmed. Only one of the four hypotheses supporting task-media fitness was confirmed for time-to-complete, and none of the four hypotheses supporting task-media-fitness was confirmed for communication breakdown frequency. In the overall analysis of time to complete, Medium was found to have had a significant effect. Sending and receiving text was significantly slower than all other tested media. Sending and receiving video was significantly faster than all other tested media combinations. After completing each task, participants completed a short questionnaire designed to measure the sense of social presence using the original scales developed by Short and Christie. The sense of social presence reported in video communications was significantly higher for all scales than the sense of social presence reported in mixed-richness environments. The sense of social presence reported in text communications was only significantly lower than mixed-richness environments for one scale, with no significant difference for all other scales. / Master of Science

The relationship between surface, perception, and structure has occupied my graduate studies. Locating, transforming, and transcending the surface requires play with perceptive abilities not only of vision, but of touch, hearing, and the other senses as well. How do the interactions of sense with the qualities of a surface determine our perception of the world? What role does the extension of the senses play in one's ability to perceive surface and structure? Using sense information gleaned from surfaces, the tectonics of our world are made visible. Might this relationship be played backwards as well? Composed structures produce surfaces upon which limina can be sensed.This written accompaniment to the thesis works is intended to continue the exploration of the surface/ sense/ structure relationship. With the visual work as a basis, each section consists of two parts. This structure is a tool for producing sense information for the viewer concerning the visual work.The first part serves as a bridge between the particular visual work and the second part. Consisting of a page or so of text, the first part of each section is also intended to set a tone or position the reader for the second part. The second part is more formal and speaks about the ideas behind the produced object, and for the most part could be applied to any works in this thesis. My desire is that the adjacency of the pieces in each section will create a friction of sorts— an awareness of the surface between the two writings, and perhaps, between the writing and the objects.

The ideas within this thesis are meant to clarify my explorations, research and painting practice during my studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. I expand on my general statements about being fascinated by advancing technologies and concerned about the after effects of these advancements. The writing explores my curiosity about the internal, skeletal structure of things and how they operate. I explain how the paintings are idiosyncratic hybrids that evoke animation, imaginary scientific propositions, blueprints, maps, and advancing technologies. The work combines these interests with my observations of day-to-day experiences. Isolated events provide found compositions which I then manipulate: a seemingly mundane bike ride gets mapped into a well–ordered schematic of social interaction.

Refletindo sobre uma sensação de leveza e dilatação da passagem temporal, a pesquisa elabora a expressão \"tempo suspenso\" e analisa de que maneira essa singular percepção pode ser transmutada em códices. Para sua compreensão, dialoga sobretudo com duas produções artísticas: Em busca do tempo perdido (1908-1922), de Marcel Proust, e A última tempestade (1991), de Peter Greenaway. A primeira foi escolhida por discutir uma sensação como estopim para a elaboração de uma poética. A segunda, por colocar o códice artesanal como receptáculo de um assunto. O campo formado pelas duas referências aglutina a temática levantada e representa princípios geradores e norteadores no desenvolvimento de uma sintaxe visual composta de referências históricas e formais da estrutura do códice. Ademais, para a compreensão da dilatação do tempo foram analisadas obras clássicas japonesas onde se encontram características próprias dos termos wabi-sabi e ma. Elas são a representação estética de um método no qual a práxis poética é um momento decisivo na estruturação do objeto final. A partir dos diálogos estabelecidos, foram realizados sete livros de artista, chamados de códices, cada um apresentado separadamente em capítulos formados por registros fotográficos e textos contextualizadores dos assuntos elaborados. / Reflecting upon a soft and expanding sense of the passage of time, this re- search elaborates the term \"suspended time\", analyzing how this singular perception is possibly transformed into codex art. It dialogues mainly with two artistic works for further comprehension: Marcel Proust\'s In Search of Lost Time (1908-1922) and Peter Greenway\'s Prospero\'s Book (1991). The first one has been chosen for debating a sensation as the trigger for the elaboration of poetics. The second one for setting the handicraft codex as receptacle of a subject. The field formed by both works ties together the presented topic and represents the generative and guiding principles of a visual syntax made up of formal and historical references from the codex structure. Furthermore, in order to comprehend the expansion of time, classical Japanese works in which specific characteristics of the terms wabi-sabi and ma appear, have been analyzed. They are the aesthetic representation of a method in which the poetic praxis has a major role in the final object construction. Seven artists\' books named codex have been created out of the established discussion, each one is presented separately in chapters formed by photographic records and guiding texts about the formulated topics.

Ce mémoire prend comme point de départ le paradoxe central qui marque l’écriture de Pierre Perrault : le fait qu’en dehors de son travail cinématographique, il écrit des textes littéraires alors qu’il refuse à la fois le statut d’écrivain et la catégorie même de « littérature ». L’analyse du discours des poèmes du recueil Gélivures et des essais du recueil De la parole aux actes permet de montrer que Perrault arrive, grâce à tout un imaginaire de la parole, à écrire en se dégageant symboliquement de la littérature, dont il critique la volonté de conquête. Ce mémoire fait appel à une critique où la réflexion sur la langue joue un grand rôle, à la croisée de l’histoire et du social. Le premier chapitre traite de ce que signifie la parole chez Perrault et de ce qu’elle implique. Sont abordés en particulier le champ sémantique qui entoure ce motif omniprésent dans son œuvre ainsi que les rapprochements métaphoriques entre parole, mémoire et identités. Le deuxième chapitre porte sur les manifestations plus directes de la parole, soit le don que fait Perrault de la parole à travers son œuvre. Sont étudiés l’intertextualité, la mise en page et le travail de la citation. La volonté de prise de parole de Perrault lui-même est étudiée au dernier chapitre. Son écriture est alors envisagée comme un combat pour la défense d’une parole qui est d’ailleurs étroitement liée à sa quête identitaire, laquelle inspire un style foncièrement polémique et la recherche d’une énonciation qu’on pourrait qualifier de performative. / This memoir stems from the central paradox which defines the writings of Pierre Perrault : the fact that apart from his cinematographic work, he writes literary texts all the while refuting the status of writer as well as the category of literature. Analysis of the poetic discourse in the poems of Gélivures and the essays from De la parole aux actes demonstrates that Perrault is able, by grace of the imaginary of speech, to write while symbolically withdrawing from literature, which he whole heartedly criticises. This memoir calls on the idea that language plays a significant role on the crossroad of history and society. The first chapter deals with the significance of what is voiced by Perrault and what this implies. The subjects treated in particular are the semantic aspects which encompass the omnipresent motive in his work including the metaphoric ties between one’s voice, one’s memory and one’s identity. The second chapter reflects upon more discreet manifestations of one’s voice, namely, the contributions Perrault makes through his work to what is voiced. Addressed are intertextuality, page layout, and quotation. Perrault’s desire to take his leave to speak is studied in the final chapter. His writing is envisioned as a struggle to defend a voice which is linked directly to his quest for identity that inspires a strongly polemic style and the search for an enunciation which leads to action.

Refletindo sobre uma sensação de leveza e dilatação da passagem temporal, a pesquisa elabora a expressão \"tempo suspenso\" e analisa de que maneira essa singular percepção pode ser transmutada em códices. Para sua compreensão, dialoga sobretudo com duas produções artísticas: Em busca do tempo perdido (1908-1922), de Marcel Proust, e A última tempestade (1991), de Peter Greenaway. A primeira foi escolhida por discutir uma sensação como estopim para a elaboração de uma poética. A segunda, por colocar o códice artesanal como receptáculo de um assunto. O campo formado pelas duas referências aglutina a temática levantada e representa princípios geradores e norteadores no desenvolvimento de uma sintaxe visual composta de referências históricas e formais da estrutura do códice. Ademais, para a compreensão da dilatação do tempo foram analisadas obras clássicas japonesas onde se encontram características próprias dos termos wabi-sabi e ma. Elas são a representação estética de um método no qual a práxis poética é um momento decisivo na estruturação do objeto final. A partir dos diálogos estabelecidos, foram realizados sete livros de artista, chamados de códices, cada um apresentado separadamente em capítulos formados por registros fotográficos e textos contextualizadores dos assuntos elaborados. / Reflecting upon a soft and expanding sense of the passage of time, this re- search elaborates the term \"suspended time\", analyzing how this singular perception is possibly transformed into codex art. It dialogues mainly with two artistic works for further comprehension: Marcel Proust\'s In Search of Lost Time (1908-1922) and Peter Greenway\'s Prospero\'s Book (1991). The first one has been chosen for debating a sensation as the trigger for the elaboration of poetics. The second one for setting the handicraft codex as receptacle of a subject. The field formed by both works ties together the presented topic and represents the generative and guiding principles of a visual syntax made up of formal and historical references from the codex structure. Furthermore, in order to comprehend the expansion of time, classical Japanese works in which specific characteristics of the terms wabi-sabi and ma appear, have been analyzed. They are the aesthetic representation of a method in which the poetic praxis has a major role in the final object construction. Seven artists\' books named codex have been created out of the established discussion, each one is presented separately in chapters formed by photographic records and guiding texts about the formulated topics.

"Compositional Approaches to New Media Paradigms" is the discursive accompaniment to the original composition BoMoH, (a new media chamber opera. A variety of new media concepts and practices are discussed in relation to their use as a contemporary compositional methodology for computer musicians and digital content producers. This paper aligns relevant discourse with a variety of concepts as they influence and affect the compositional process. This paper does not propose a new working method; rather it draws attention to a contemporary interdisciplinary practice that facilitates new possibilities for engagement and aesthetics in digital art/music. Finally, in demonstrating a selection of the design principals, from a variety of new media theories of interest, in compositional structure and concept, it is my hope to provide composers and computer musicians with a tested resource that will function as a helpful set of working guidelines for producing new media enabled art, sonic or otherwise.