“Interactive Dance Club ’98 – a Legend in the Making!” Moderated by
Conference:
Type:
Entry Number: 03
Title:
- Interactive Dance Club ’98 - a Legend in the Making!
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
DESCRIPTION
Twenty years ago in Orlando The Interactive Dance Club (IDC) brought together the SIGGRAPH community in a grand social experiment. For four nights conference attendees gathered to participate in creating a dynamic confluence of music, computer graphics and lighting – all driven by those who danced. Computers were big and expensive back then! There were no iPhones, no bluetooth, no wearables lighter than a small car. So why were we crazy enough to think we could pull this off? To what lengths did we go to make this happen?
The answers to that last question will also help explain why we never did it again.
IDC required a custom operating system and consisted of a complex amalgamation of bleeding edge software, graphics, MIDI, motion sensors, projectors and lighting hardware. It involved a team of over 30 developers, musicians, lighting designers, hardware specialists and computer graphics artists.
The core IDC team will explore conceptualization, technology development, ground rules for multi-participatory experiences, what passed for cutting-edge runtime CG in 1998, and so much more.
There will be a few war stories and some elders reminiscing, but also some practical lessons learned that you can use together with today’s technology to guide your own interactive group experiences.
