Research, creative activity begins in KIX Lab with mini-grant-funded faculty projects
(Scott Carmichael | The Media School)
Faculty across the university are using immersion and extended reality to conduct research and creative activity across disciplines as recipients of the Kinetic Immersion and Extended Reality Lab’s inaugural mini-grants.
Projects range from a dance performance in which dancers interact with virtual environments to the production of VR content for a bilingual children’s opera to the measurement of gait and obstacle-negotiation behavior. Each project will produce an experiential prototype or demonstration that may serve as a foundation for a larger and more focused project.
Recursive Bodies: A Live Performance Featuring Dance, Video, Light, and Sound
- John Gibson, principal investigator, Jacobs School of Music
- Allen Hahn, researcher, Department of Theatre and Drama
- Elizabeth Shea, researcher, Jacobs School of Music
- Sarah Wroth, researcher, Jacobs School of Music
- Megan Young, researcher, Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design
Leveraging the KIX Lab’s virtual production wall, immersive audio capabilities, motion-capture hardware, and wireless wearable sensors, researchers will develop a live performance combining dance, video, theatrical lighting, and electronic music. The lab will serve as a multimedia performance space for exploring interdisciplinary collaboration and production workflows.
The Fall of Lady MacDuff
- Leraldo Anzaldua, principal investigator, Department of Theatre and Drama
- Patrick Kelly, researcher, School of Public Health
- Samantha Kaufman, researcher, Department of Theatre and Drama
- Adam Rector, researcher
- Jake Guinn, researcher
Researchers will create “The Fall of Lady MacDuff,” a short action-genre proof-of-concept film using filmed, mixed-media, and potentially motion-capture techniques.
Embodied Dramaturgies: Exploring Motion Capture and Virtual Production as Tools for the Transmission of Collective Performance Knowledge
Ana Candida Carneiro, principal investigator, Department of Theatre and Drama
This project will use the KIX Lab’s virtual production wall and motion-tracking technology to study how people move and interact with one another in shared spaces, exploring ways to capture, visualize, and better understand movement patterns, group dynamics, and the knowledge people communicate through physical movement.
Oliverso: The Immersive Experience
- Kimberly Carballo, principal investigator, Jacobs School of Music
- Laura Judson, researcher, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies
Researchers will use the KIX Lab to gather data and experience needed to develop proof-of-concept VR content for “Oliverso,” a bilingual children’s opera. They plan to develop student workshops using low-tech VR headsets and guided engagement with music, language, culture, musical perspectives, and identity through a multimedia experience.
Amduat Video & Performance
- Norbert Herber, principal investigator, The Media School
- Tony Brewer, researcher
- Julian Douglas, researcher
- Tom Clark, researcher
Leveraging the KIX Lab’s virtual production wall, lighting kits, cameras, and technical support, researchers will conduct rehearsals and a performance of Dwight Frizzell’s “Amduat,” using the wall for the work’s video accompaniment.
Immersive Dance and VR
- Malia Bruker, principal investigator, The Media School
- Ilana Goldman, researcher
This project will use the KIX Lab’s virtual production wall, motion-tracking system, and tracking camera to create footage of ballet dancers interacting with virtual or augmented reality environments. These resources will support experiments combining virtual-wall scenes with 360-degree live-action footage and help assess future student use.
LINE NOTES: Exploring Meaning and Recognition in Virtual Production
- Megan Louise Young, principal investigator, Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design
- Nicole Miller, researcher, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
This project will leverage the KIX Lab’s virtual production wall to create an immersive environment where participants explore digital representations of family keepsakes. The wall will allow the team to study how immersive display affects audience engagement and understanding of relationships among objects, stories and digital representations.
Interactive Sonic Systems for Emergent Musical Hologram
- Jason Andrew Palamara, principal investigator, Herron School of Art + Design
- Arda Ren Turhan, researcher, Herron School of Art + Design
Researchers will record and edit sound samples, build a custom sample library and interactive instrument system, and add sound design to projected real-time avatars to study how sound shapes audience perceptions of agency and embodiment in AI-enabled performance.
Modeling Real-World Visual Challenges in an Immersive Environment to Advance
- Shirin Elgin Hassan, principal investigator, School of Optometry
- Ivica Ico Bukvic, researcher, The Media School
Leveraging the KIX Lab’s immersive wall and floor projection system, researchers will create a realistic neighborhood environment featuring uneven sidewalks, virtual puddles, and pedestrians, while using the Talentrack markerless motion-capture system to measure gait and obstacle-negotiation behavior. The virtual environment enables safe, controlled testing of complex real-world mobility tasks.