Surfaces and Shadows: Digital Shadow Puppetry and Augmented Silhouette Performance

“Surfaces and Shadows” explores the interface between traditional shadow puppetry and tactile and embodied computer technologies. The work is illustrated with historical, theoretical enquiry, select case studies and documentation of original digital performance tools. The paper offers an extended definition of the digital puppet, discussing control interfaces, immaterially and the performance presence of the digital performing object. The paper presents a short exegesis of a prototype iPad application called the sShadowEngine, that makes multi-touchable digital shadow theatre possible using real-time physics based animation, I indicate design level insights and present potential approaches to making performance animation tools using a variety of touch and computer vision techniques. The author’s ongoing DPhil in Critical Media Practice at the University of Sussex relates the media archaeologies of 2D and 3D puppetry, and in the present paper, augmented silhouettes, to landmark real-time computer animation work including compositions by media artists Myron Krueger, Golan Levin, Philip Worthington, Miwa Matreyek, Luis Leite, the author and others like Joon Moon and Design I/O. The paper will discuss related themes, including: the Cinematics and Kinesthetics of Digital Shadow Play Space; Mimetic lllusionism; 2D Puppet Forms in 3D Digital Space; Performer-to-character Mapping: 2D and 3D (dis)connections; and digitising material culture: kinetic play with heritage objects;