University of Melbourne
Motion-Capture and Animation Art Hack

On 27-28 Feb 2020, MetaObjects conducted a 2-day Art Hack exploring motion-capture and 3D animation at the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Melbourne. The workshop took place at the School of Computing and Information Systems together with students from the Victorian College of the Arts. The first day involved capturing data using the OptiTrack system and then moving into the computer lab to apply the data to 3D avatars using Blender. The second day was spent experimenting and developing students' ideas with the technology.

In addition to the Art Hack, Artistic Director of MetaObjects, Ashley Lee Wong spoke on a panel Digital Environments and Cultural Intersections as part of the Digital Environments Forum at the School of Design, University of Melbourne, together with Alexander Swords, as well as cosplay and digitisation researcher Madeleine Antonellos, moderated by Dr Eduardo Velloso.

MetaObjects was also scheduled to present a live motion-capture performance with Lu Yang in Federation Square as part of Asia TOPA (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts) in March, however, due to the coronavirus, the performance has been postponed until further notice. Lu Yang’s game The Great Adventure of Material World developed with support from MetaObjects, was also on display at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in the Feedback Loops exhibition from 7 Dec 2019 - 15 Mar 2020. The exhibition featured works by Madison Bycroft, Tianzhuo Chen, Sahej Rahal, Justin Shoulder and Zadie Xa.

MetaObjects also presented a talk on “Enabling Possibilities with Art and Technology” to faculty and researchers at SensiLab as part of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. The talk was live-streamed and recorded as part of SensiLab Forums.