Study of a Movement
Keywords: Social protest, Police violence, Video Installation, AI motion Tracker, Motion Capture, Performance, Re-enactment
Study of a Movement is an artistic research project that attempts to create a multichannel video installation in which viewers will be able to observe police violence in social protest in different reframing experiences. The project will consist of three different forms of moving-images: 1) the original video documentation overlaid with AI-generated skeletal animations; 2) the secondary documentation of performers reenacting the original movement; and 3) the tertiary video rendering of the performance through motion capture. By creating a diverse visual interpretation, this project aims to generate for viewers an experience of violence in social protest in which race, gender, culture, class, and geography are decentered. By applying AI motion trackers to the footage, one can see how the machine understands embodied movement in twisted social confrontations. At the core, this project asks, “Does the AI even care?” Furthermore, by juxtaposing all the aforementioned visual components, this project bridges the gap between AI training (understanding) and body training (teaching) of human interaction.