We were honored to be part of an event involved such an amazing exhibition at one of the most important museums in the country.   Below are a series of photos from the event . Families from all around the world got to experience a new version of the installation where the participation is filmed in real-time allowing them to put their own faces into the artwork.

After over a year of planning and production, the bodies and beats app is finally available.  Thanks to all of our 104 backers who donated to our Kickstarter Campagin.  Without their support this app would have never happened.  Also extra big thanks to Mux Mool, Mogi Grumbes, Sun Hammer, Beautiful Bells and JDSY for donating music to the Kickstarter album (download zip here) and music loops for the app!  Also extra big thanks to Adam E. Hunt who jumped in and helped contribute his skills to the project.

Download the app now on the app store!  Don’t forget to check out the official app website too.

Even if you have seen the project before, you have never seen it like this. With new updated content from our last video shoot we have rolled out a more compressive and diverse set of clips.  Each clip is musical or rhythmic in nature allow for more sonic combinations thanks to the great contributions by Mux Mool, Brael, Sun Hammer, and Beautiful Bells.

Read more about it on Ann Arbor.com

Exquisite Motion Corpse – River Gallery
Photo By: Emilia Javanica

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago – Exquisite Motion Corpse from Martin Thoburn on Vimeo.

The short video below shows the crew behind the scenes having fun and making some awesome rewards!

Bodies and Beats – Rewards from Martin Thoburn on Vimeo.

Bodies and Beats – Rewards from Martin Thoburn on Vimeo.

You can follow the updates on our kickstarter updates page.

A big special thanks to the following people for making a pledge to the project:

John Carr, Juliet Hinely, Rishi Daftuar, jac gautreau, Travis Bursik, Dave Niles, Cory Snavely, GWEN (FR), Scott White, Gerard Konars, Philippa Arthan, Gina Pensiero, Laura Korch, rafe, Aaron Harburg,  Rick Clay, Philip James, Judy Ungar, amber kaplan + dave ward, mummey,  Holger Mesemann, Kyle Hunter, Doc ILLingsworth, Mark Maynard, Colin A. Gershon, Jason Lee Starin, Amelia Kieras, Gary Schwartz, Joseph Tyler, Emilia Javanica, Maria Feldman, Nathan Gulick, John Baird, Samantha Sethi, Candra K. Gill, Dan Savickas and Molly Sparkman, Nick Hytinen, Rita Sandon, Gerolf Nikolay, Aaron & Deni Cox, Brian Kelly, Sharad Patel, Steve O’Connor, Jen Proctor, Todd Tue, Dawn Stronski, Casey Dawson, Linda Chapman, Renee Hytinen, Sarms Jabra, Ian Demsky & Kelly Davenport, Jason Wright, Ellie White, Danny Blades, Melissa Hunt-Loy, Carl Sly, Phil Rachford, Elaine Bertsch, R Peck Henderhan, Rob Ortopan Aaron Ashanti Black, Trevor Stone, Brian and Deb Cairns, Cilla De Nadai, E.T., Alan Cox, dirt, Matthew Stouppe, Kimberly Bella, Timothy J. Ortopan, jeff hadick, Natalie Berry, Stephen Thoburn, Gaye Hobson, Joachim Hero, Catherine Thoburn, Anastasia Deinera, Beverley Geltner, Arthur Mullen, Leah Angstman, Scott Allen, David G, Mike Shecket, Heathered Pearls, Jason “Knifebeard” Youngs, Morgan Cox, Naim Falandino, Jim Simpson, jim wholey, Vanessa Sly, Donald Harrison, Dr. Spaghetti Envelope, Jiggs Elko, RGB, Brian D, Steve Dannemiller, Gina Floro, RRB

The App:
Bodies and Beats turns you into a digital mashup artist. Create your own video collages set to beats, and then change the elements with a touch of your finger to discover something new. This iOS app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is inspired by our original interactive video installation, Exquisite Motion Corpse.

How it Works:
Build your body! Pick from a video catalog of body segments – from the surreal to the hilarious – all accompanied by unique beats and sound effects from musicians like Mux Mool, Mogi Grumbles, JDSY and Brael. Mix and remix the elements to create something crazy, something funny, something weird.

You control the video speed, with half-time and double-time controls. Or randomize the video clips to discover new combinations.

Backstory:
Our original four-channel video installation features a life-sized tower of screens controlled with a podium-mounted touchscreen. Users swap body segments synced to a beat clock.

The Drematrix studio is one of few systems in Europe and allows human motions to be captured without the need of suits or markers and includes a system consisting of multiple cameras and a retro-reflective background. The system detects individuals via high-end image-processing algorithms and tracks their actions, adapts automatically within seconds to changing players and supports Autodesk MotionBuilder.

Chris in the Motion Capture Area.

Martin moving to a beat in the studio.

Chris plays around with some  dance moves in the studio.

Our production spreadsheet keeps the project on track.

Laptop plays crazy beats recorded with the Motion Capture data.

Silhouette captured by the 14 different cameras in the studio.

Human skeleton is rendered based on the Silhouette image by the motion capture system.

Data is translated into a skeleton in Motion Builder

Motion Builder has a default model that the skeleton is applied too.

The motion is of body is translated onto the default model for visual feedback.

Martin and Chris pose with the Motion Builder model.

Drematrix team members Markus and Robert join us in a celebratory jump after motion capture completion.

After talking to Ann Arbor Film Festival director Donald Harrison about our nascent interactive project involving 4 channels of video, he mentioned it would fit perfectly with the festival’s 50th anniversary promotional campaign called the 50 screens.

The idea involved 50 screens of moving image art throughout Ann Arbor to promote the upcoming 50th anniversary of the festival.  This provided an excellent opportunity to showcase our work while testing our system in a public environment.

Although we had not yet collected the motion capture footage we wanted for the project, we decided to move forward with a beta version. This first edition would feature both of us, shot on live action video.

The rest is history. The installation made its debut in the Michigan Theater Lobby from March 28th to April 1st, 2012.

Below are some stills from the set up of the beta version.  Future additions to the installation are in progress and will feature greater diversity in range of bodies and motion.

To view a video of the installation and how it works, visit the about page.