Embodied Interactions with a Sufi  Dhikr  Ritual: Negotiating Privacy and Transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage in “ Virtual Sama ”

“Virtual Sama” is an interactive multimedia installation that connects computationally abstracted ethnographic documentation of a Sufi Dhikr ritual with viewers through an artistic artificial intelligence (AI) abstraction process and interactive rhythmic full body movement. In this paper, we describe how the installation is designed to elicit reflection on the implications of transforming intangible heritage into digital heritage through digital documentation and storage, and to encourage exploration of questions around privacy and safeguarding of sensitive cultural practices. Against the context of detailed fieldwork with Uyghur Sufi practitioners in Xinjiang, China, we explore how AI processes and embodied interaction might be mobilised to present alternative representations of anonymity, while drawing attention to the complexities of representation, access and transmission of intangible cultural practices in the digital age.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Aynur Kadir

Kate Hennessy

Ozge Yalcin

Steve DiPaola

Conference

Publication date: July 2017

Publication date (Print): July 2017

Pages: 365-372

Affiliations

[0001]Simon Fraser University

Canada

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2017.73

SO-VID: 642f8fd7-cbfc-4e35-9679-8e9bd1510f6f

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2017)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 11 – 13 July 2017

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2017.73

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] J. AndersonK. Christen 2013 ‘Chuck a Copyright on it’: Dilemmas of Digital Return and the Possibilities for Traditional Knowledge Licenses and Labels. Museum Anthropology Review 7 1-2 105 126

[2] A. BanduraR. H. Walters 1977 Social learning theory. Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ

[3] I. Bellér-Hann 2007 Situating the Uyghurs between China and Central Asia. Ashgate Publishing Farnham

[4] M. F. Brown 2003 Who Owns Native Culture? Harvard UP Cambridge, MA

[5] L. CandyE. Edmonds 2002 Interaction in art and technology Crossings: Electronic Journal of Art and Technology 2 1

[6] F. CameronS. Kenderdine 2007 Theorizing digital cultural heritage: A critical discourse. MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[7] K. Christen 2009 Access and Accountability: The Ecology of Information Sharing in the Digital Age Anthropology News 50 4 4 5

[8] K. Christen 2012 Does information really want to be free? Indigenous knowledge systems and the question of openness International Journal of Communication 6 2870 2893

[9] T. J. Csordas 1990 Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology Ethos 18 1 5 47

[10] T. J. Csordas 1994 Embodiment and experience: The existential ground of culture and self (Vol. 2). Cambridge UP Cambridge

[11] R. Dawut 2009 Shrine pilgrimage among the Uighurs Silk Road 6 2 56 67

[12] R Dawut 2016 Ordam Mazar: A Meeting Place for Different Practices and Belief Systems in Culturally Diverse Xinjiang I. Bellér-HannB. N. SchlyterJ. Sugawara Kashgar revisited: Uyghur studies in memory of Ambassador Gunnar Jarring Brill Leiden

[13] S. DiPaola 2014a Using a Contextual Focus Model for an Automatic Creativity Algorithm to Generate Art Work Procedía Computer Science. 41 212 219

[14] S. DiPaola 2014b Computer Modelling Fine Art Painting using a Cognitive Correlative Heuristics Approach Proc: Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures. MIT Press Boston, MA

[15] S. DiPaolaR. McCaig 2016 Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques to Emulate the Creativity of a Portrait Painter Electronic Visualisation and the Arts British Computer Society London

[16] P. EkmanW. V. Friesen 1971 Constants across cultures in the face and emotion Journal of personality and social psychology 17 2 124

[17] P. EkmanH. Oster 1979 Facial expressions of emotion Annual review of psychology 30 1 527 554

[18] G. FauconnierM. Turner 1998 Conceptual integration networks Cognitive Science 22 2 133 187

[19] K. Hennessy 2009 Virtual Repatriation and Digital Cultural Heritage: The Ethics of Managing Online Collections Anthropology News 50 4 5 6

[20] K. Hennessy 2012 Cultural heritage on the web: Applied digital visual anthropology and local cultural property rights discourse International Journal of Cultural Property 19 3 345 369

[21] K. HennessyC. FortinA. KadirR. MunteanR. Ward 2015 Producing New Media Ethnographies with a Multi-Sited Approach Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art

[22] R. A. Harris 2008 The Making of a Musical Canon in Chinese Central Asia: The Uyghur Twelve Muqam. Ashgate Publishing Farnham

[23] K. E. Jennings 2010 Developing creativity: Artificial barriers in artificial intelligence Minds and Machines 20 4 489 501

[24] R. Kurin 2004 Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in the 2003 UNESCO Convention: a critical appraisal Museum International 56 1-2 66 77

[25] R. Kurin 2007 Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage: Key factors in implementing the 2003 Convention International Journal of Intangible Heritage 2 9 20

[26] L. Lessig 2004 Free culture: How big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity. The Penguin Press London

[27] J. D. MayerM. DiPaoloP. Salovey 1990 Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual stimuli: A component of emotional intelligence Journal of personality assessment 54 3-4 772 781

[28] R. McCaigS. DiPaolaL. Gabora 2016 Deep Convolutional Networks as Models of Generalization and Blending within Visual Creativity Proc: International Conference on Computational Creativity

[29] R. MunteanK. HennessyA. AntleS. RowleyJ. WilsonB. MatkinR. EckersleyP. TanR. Wakkary 2015 Belongings: a tangible interface for intangible cultural heritage Proc: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts 360 366 British Computer Society

[30] E. M. NewtonL. SweeneyB. Malin 2005 Preserving privacy by de-identifying face images IEEE transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 17 2 232 243

[31] D. Papademas The International Visual Sociology Association 2009 IVSA code of research ethics and guidelines Visual Studies 24 250 257

[32] L. Pauwels 2008 Taking and using Visual Communication Quarterly 15 243 257

[33] J. Prosser 2000 The moral maze of image ethics H. SimonsR. Usher Situated ethics in visual research. London Routledge. 116 132

[34] A. Reckwitz 2002 Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing European journal of social theory 5 2 243 263

[35] S SalevatiS DiPaola 2015 “A Creative Artificial Intelligence System to Investigate User Experience, Affect, Emotion and Creativity” Proc: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts British Computer Society London

[36] S. SalevatiS. DiPaolaK. Carlson 2016 Movement Awareness through Emotion Based Aesthetic Visualization Proc: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts British Computer Society London

[37] A. Schimmel 1975 Mystical dimensions of Islam. Univ of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, NC

[38] UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

[39] UNESCO 2003 Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage

[40] E. Wenger 1998 Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK

[41] R. WilesJ. ProsserA. BagnoliA. ClarkK. DaviesS. HollandE. Renold 2008 Visual Ethics: Ethical Issues in Visual Research. Southampton: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/421/

[42] R. WilesA. CoffeyJ. RobinsonS. Heath 2012 Anonymisation and visual images: Issues of respect, ‘voice’ and protection International Journal of Social Research Methodology 15 41 53

[43] S. Zeki 2001 Essays on science and society: Artistic creativity and the brain Science 293 5527 51 52

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Embodied Interactions with a Sufi Dhikr Ritual: Negotiating Privacy and Transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage in “ Virtual Sama”