Infinite Posture Dataset


2020

She moves by endlessly morphing to the rhythm of the device – strapped in the frame of the screen - following or giving instructions; part human, part machine. The design of the device is inspired by a gadget to cheat the step-counter on your smartphone. Technology tricked by technology.

Her movements, caught within a motion capture like tight suit deconstructing her body parts, talk of complex and conflicting emotions, but her face, from which we usually read how someone is feeling, is hidden. But is the machine that is observing her deconstructed and re-sequenced postures actually capable of recognizing what the body is communicating? Are we? 

The human mind 'knows' body language from a kind of primordial memory. We seem to be capable of reading different meanings in different expressions and postures by the second, translating it into emotions based on our personal and cultural experiences when interacting with others. Teaching this complex and often subconscious 'body knowledge' to an AI is a different story.


video 4K 15min loop, 65 inch flatscreen. Relax Zone Pro Inversion Table (extended and re-assembled), 20kg weight plate, motor

Dancer: Courtney May Robertson
Choreography: Marjolein Vogels
Technique device: Johannes Wernicke & Léon Spek
Production frame: Rob den Dulk
Technique video: Geert van Schoot, Turtle Beach
Made possible by: Creative Industries Fund NL MU Artspace HeK (House of electronic Arts Basel)


instalation shot: HeK Basel, photo: Stine Deja



‘In many of her recent works Dutch artist Coralie Vogelaar questions the advancements and potential of contemporary emotion technology often by collaborating with dancers and performers. The movements of the dancer in this installation are visualizing intense feelings that are layered and sometimes even chaotic. The way she moves sometimes comes close to robotics then again it resonates with the ‘Authentic Movement’ technique invented by choreographer and dancer Mary Starks Whitehouse in 1950, who worked with free associations of the body, thus bringing more emotive energy to the seemingly cold/structured world of technology. After all emotion comes from the Greek 'emotere' which translates to 'energy in motion'. It is within these tensions that we need to decipher the body talking to us. ‘

Dagmar Dirkx, Noise is an Asset. Prix de Rome Publication 2021

Een van de hoogtepunten bevindt zich gelijk aan het begin van de tentoonstelling: de twee werken van Coralie Vogelaar Infinite Posture Dataset (2020) en Facial Action Coding (2018). Het eerstgenoemde werk bestaat uit een televisiescherm dat heen en weer wiegt tussen twee metalen stangen. Op het scherm is een wezen te zien met een gezichtsverhullend masker en een bodysuit aan die wegvalt tegen diens huidskleur. Over het lichaam en hoofd lopen verticale witte strepen die doen denken aan ducttape. Het wezen voert een interpretatieve dans uit. Het wiegen van het scherm wordt bepaald door een gadget die de lichaamstaal van de danser omzet in beweging. De vraag die Vogelaar met het werk opwerpt is of de gebruikte technologie de emotioneel beladen bewegingen ook kan duiden als de primaire drager van gevoel – het gezicht – voor het algoritme verborgen blijft. MetropolisM 08.2021, Lena van Tijen



Transcript:

hiding
disillusioned
also vulnerable
feel really stuck now
arrogantt t
desire
wanting, wishing, yearning
letting go of all of that
carefree!
still can’t really fully let go
feel far more comfortable being confronting then carefree
trying to disappear
pause
in different directions
dropping everything
protection
i don’t really know what i’m longing forhopefull
gghhopefull
irritated
hiding from the world
pushing people away
daydreaming
oh shit
vacuum
sucked into a vacuum
left behind, abonded, same old
silencing myself
hmm
oh it’s going away now
alone but comfortable at least
deh
despair
ghh
playfull?
well, a bit ambiguous
caught red-handed
happy belly
i love food
happy belly
uncomfortable
irritated
tangled
stop
unstable stop
retracting
just generally unpleasant
ok
it’s ok
exposing my wrist
submitting
fuck
no
just really tired at this point exactly
deep dark hole
catch
catching myself
its allright
catching
tense
tense table
fingerprinting
hahaha
ok
ok
hmm
kind of hard to feel provocative on one leg with your eyes closed
starting over again
melting like an ice cube

what
does it mean to be intimate
looking down on someone
or someone looking down on me
maybe
hahaha
no
kuch
maybe frightened
empty
letting go
staying alive
staying alive
hopefull
or longing
mad stop
stop
growing again
being wide and perceptive
ai
mad
oh gush
abandoned
wow
so over it
closing up being small
lonely
giving up
giving in
moving on
giving up
giving in
protecting
so not really giving up cause im still protecting a little bit
full belly
shamefull
guilty
not interesting in having a conversation but having to look at you anyway
retracting
falling backwards in time
backwards in space
*whistling*
i can’t really whistle very well
shock
closing
dissapearing hiding
cat
scared cats
oh i’m gone get a cat
but it’s in greece
feeling
touching
being present
movement
it’s just
clown
happy
no, playfull
well, perhaps a small whisper like this which sounds sexy
hihi
*kiss*
*kiss*