To Be or Not To Be: Installation and Presentation

Artist: Roman Danylak
Programming design: Alastair Weakley
Technical direction film: Glen Pead and Alex Turenko
Actors: Pas Accuri, Johanna de Ruyter, Lucinda Gleeson

Dates of Exhibition: 5 February – 26 April 2007

Free with entry to the Powerhouse Museum

To Be or Not To Be is a narrative-based interactive computer artwork that engages its audience through movement. Designed for teenage audiences and inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the user interacts with on-screen characters through intuitive gesture. Players take their cue from an on-screen interactive map-puzzle that indicates which sensor pads on the floor should be navigated. With each solved sequence, sections of the film are activated, bringing to life the characters of this tragi-comic game.

Danylak is currently undertaking a series of user tests, the results of which will inform his PhD study in Human-Computer Interaction. To Be or Not To Be was produced in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Playback Theatre.

A YouTube video is now available on this exhibit, courtesy of the artist.

Related Events

Opening and Presentation - Friday 23 February, 2007 - 4-6pm
Roman Danylak will deliver a presentation and information session explaining the basis and evolution of his work and conclude this talk with a brief demonstration in Beta_space.  Light refreshment to follow.

Powerhouse Museum Education Tours - Tuesday 3 April and Wednesday 4 April, 2007
The work has been specifically designed for teenage user groups and will be presented to visiting school groups at the Powerhouse Museum. 

Biographies

Roman Danylak

Currently engaged in studies towards a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction at the Creativity and Cognition Studios, UTS, Danylak has an academic background in English Literature, and has worked in collaboration with Arts and Technology since 1996.  Danylak has lectured in Interactive Art in the Faculty of IT at UTS and has presented papers at both local and international conferences in software, gaming, and interactive art including Engage06.  He has worked as a script assessor for the Australian National Playwrights Centre and published many critical reviews on Art and Design in a variety of professional journals.  Danylak has also worked in film, television, and theatre as both writer and performer.

Alastair Weakley

Since arriving at University of Technology, Sydney in the Spring of 2003, Weakley has been pursuing full-time PhD research. The subject of the investigation is concerned with the provision of Web-based support for groups of people engaged in creative work. He specializes in art/technology design collaboration centered on organizing and sharing useful resources in a visual manner.  As a research member at the Creativity and Cognition Studios, Weakley has a history of collaborating with artists on interactive projects.