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Abstractions, Transductions, Expressions Carlos Manuel Carvalho Santos Oliveira Doctoral Thesis in Digital Media

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Abstractions, Transductions, Expressions Carlos Manuel Carvalho Santos Oliveira Doctoral Thesis in Digital Media Choreographic Objects Abstractions, Transductions, Expressions Carlos Manuel Carvalho Santos Oliveira Doctoral Thesis in Digital Media July, 2015 Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Digital Media, specialization: Production of Audiovisual and Interactive Content, under the scientific supervision of Prof. Carla Fernandes, Ph.D. Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Media Digitais, especialidade Criação de Audiovisual e Conteúdos Interactivos realizada sob orientação científica de Prof. Carla Fernandes, Ph.D. Financial Support This work is dedicated to the infinity of potentials reserved in life, and to all those who committedly resist becoming disconnected from it. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The present text synthesizes a multifarious research, which was to a great extent marked by a growing indiscernibility between work and life. Not only formal contexts of artistic and academic research have contributed to it, but also the many people with whom this path was, in one way or another, shared, are too here present. The following remarks are intended to manifest my deep appreciation for all those who have affected and have been affected by the stream of forces moving me throughout this period. I would like to thank Prof. Carla Fernandes—my supervisor—for her unconditional support, despite all difficulties. I would like to thank the Transmedia Knowledge Base for Performing Arts' team for allowing me to accompany their work. I would like to thank the UT Austin|Portugal International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies (CoLab), for supporting this research. And I would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), for having sponsored it. I would like to thank Prof. Nik Haffner—director of the Inter-University Dance Centre Berlin—for all the opportunities he has offered me. And I would like to thank all the people at this school, for having had me around and allowing me to be part of the adventure of their lives. I would like to thank Kattrin Deufert and Thomas Plischke— artists and choreographers—for having invited me to work with them. I would like to thank João Fiadeiro—artist, choreographer, researcher and friend—for the sympathy in feeling, for the learning in management, and for the resonance in process. I would like to thank the AND_Lab—Lisbon's Laboratory for Anthropology and Dance—for having provided me with an honest context of work. I would like to thank Alex Baczynski- Jenkins—dancer and friend—for all the adventures we have shared. I would like to thank Ana Trincão—friend and housemate—for having eased up my life. I would like to thank Diethild Meier—lover and friend—for having been there throughout the storm. I would like to thank Urândia Aragão and David Leitão, for having provided me a cozy home, whenever I needed. And, finally, I would like to thank my parents—Carlos and Alice—for conserving some of my roots. CHOREOGRAPHIC OBJECTS ABSTRACTIONS, TRANSDUCTIONS, EXPRESSIONS CARLOS MANUEL CARVALHO SANTOS OLIVEIRA ABSTRACT KEYWORDS: Expanded Choreography, Process Philosophy, Dance and Technology, Choreographic Knowledge, Digital Media, Transductive Thought. The present text attests a speculative tentative to define choreographic objects. Not only is this to be done by looking into a series of study cases, but also by looking so with a major concern: if such are the objects of choreographic knowledge, how can they be created anew? On the one hand, since all the cases discussed express knowledge by digital means, this question of novelty is to be framed by the “encounter between dance and technology”. On the other hand, since novelty is a potential outcome of process, this question is to be framed by the ontogenetic concerns of process philosophy. The method of inquiry here essayed can therefore be said to be an encounter in itself. To bring the encounter between dance and technology into contact with the conceptual framework of process philosophy is to problematize their potential relation and, in this way, to create conditions for resolving such problems into the form of propositional cases of solution. According to this, the encounter between dance and technology is itself a field of problematic relations. In the cases discussed, it attests the resolution of problems between dancing bodies and digital machines with each novel expression of choreographic knowledge. When looked upon by the ontogenetic concerns of process philosophy, these choreographic expressions are but particular cases of solution with regard to problems between potentials. Potentiality is therefore understood to be not only a fundamental condition of novelty but also the general field of relatedness in regard to which determinate cases stand as particular solutions. As such, to resolve a problem is always to propose one of its many potential solutions. To resolve the general question of novelty in the encounter between dance and technology is to express its potentials in the form of propositions. This is neither induction nor deduction, but rather transduction. As a mode of thought, transduction will also be argued to be characteristic of choreographic transmission. If a choreographic object is to be created anew, it needs to be transduced from the milieu of potentials wherein the knowledge of dance has formed. Transduction operates the passage between states of knowledge by moving the milieu and affecting in this way what is known with what is not (i.e. undetermined potentials). In this sense, choreography cannot be but an encounter between dance and technology: it structures the knowledge (logos) of dancing (tekhné) in determinate and transmittable ways. Because of this, it will be here contended that choreographic objects are both diagrammatic and algorithmic. Even before being expressed, they are structured in abstraction, i.e. diagrammatically. And they can only be expressed in different milieus because their structure is resumable, i.e. algorithmic. For this reason, the digital milieu presents itself as a most adequate medium to express choreographic knowledge. Notwithstanding, here, the question of novelty remains: how should the potentials of digital choreography be thought? By following such problem, this study will propose that the algorithmic computation of choreographic ideas is necessarily pervaded by incomputabilities and that novelty can be prompted by saturating the relationship between structures and potentials or, in other words, between what is known and the unknowable. OBJECTOS COREOGRÁFICOS ABSTRACÇÕES, TRANSDUÇÕES, EXPRESSÕES CARLOS MANUEL CARVALHO SANTOS OLIVEIRA RESUMO PALAVRAS CHAVE: Coreografia Expandida, Filosofia do Processo, Dança e Tecnologia, Conhecimento Coreográfico, Media Digitais, Pensamento Transdutivo. Esta tese tem por fim não só definir as principais características dos objectos coreográficos, mas também determinar como pode o conhecimento coreográfico ser expresso com novidade. Por um lado, porque todos os casos aqui estudados expressam conhecimento por meios digitais, tais especulações serão enquadradas pelo “encontro entre a dança e a tecnologia”. Por outro lado, porque a novidade resulta necessariamente do desenvolvimento de processos, tais especulações serão enquadradas por uma série de questões fundamentais da filosofia do processo. O método de pesquisa aqui seguido é, sucintamente, um encontro em si mesmo. Ao colocar a filosofia do processo em contacto com o encontro entre a dança e a tecnologia este método problematiza as relações que potencialmente daqui resultam e, com isto, estabelece as condições necessárias para que tais problemas sejam resolvidos na forma de proposições. Neste sentido, o próprio encontro entre a dança e a tecnologia é problemático. Nos casos aqui estudados, cada nova expressão de conhecimento afirma a resolução de problemas na relação entre corpos dançantes e máquinas digitais. Da perspectiva da filosofia de processo, tais expressões são soluções particulares relativas aos problemas potenciais. A potência é assim entendida tanto enquanto condição fundamental da novidade como enquanto capacidade geral de relação. Com isto, a resolução de um problema corresponde sempre à expressão da sua potência na forma de uma proposição. Isto não é nem indução nem dedução. É transdução. Enquanto modo de pensamento, a transdução será aqui afirmada como característica fundamental da transmissão coreográfica. Ou seja, para um objecto coreográfico ser novo, necessita de ser transduzido juntamente com o meio em que o seu conhecimento se formou. A transdução opera assim a passagem de um estado de conhecimento a outro, mobilizando um meio potencial que afecta o que é sabido com o que não se pode saber (i.e. as potências, porque são indeterminadas). Neste sentido, a coreografia em si mesma não pode senão resultar de um encontro entre dança e tecnologia. A coreografia estrutura o conhecimento (logos) do dançar (tekhné) de maneira determinada e transmissível. Por isto mesmo, será proposto que os objectos coreográficos são tanto diagramáticos como algorítmicos. Ou seja, mesmo antes de serem expressos, estes objectos são estruturados em abstracto, i.e. diagramaticamente. E podem apenas ser expressos em diferentes meios devido à iterabilidade da sua estrutura (i.e. são algorítmicos). O digital coloca-se então como meio optimamente adequado à expressão do conhecimento coreográfico. Não obstante, aqui, a questão da novidade permanece: como entender as potências da coreografia
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