Artist Statement

Immerce is an interactive multimedia system created for a planned visual database of the dances of Merce Cunningham. The system has been defined from a position where one is not seeking solutions with known methods but instead seeking experience and discovery through a process of exploring the unknown. The current version of Immerce is a minimal prototype of the eventual system under development. Consequently, not all of the elements described are fully operational and the archival materials represent only a small fraction of the full database. This prototype is not available for commercial presentation. Funding is being sought to complete the work.

• Thecla Schiphorst (Canada) is a choregrapher, performer and integrated computer media artist, who has presented her work around the world. Five years ago, as a member of the Lifeforms software development team at Simon Fraser University (Canada), she began working with Merce Cunningham in his development of new dances using this technology. She has performed at TISEA (ISEA92) and CyberArts International in California and recently, she has begun investigation of the potential for interactive multimedia technology in the presentation of recorded dance material.
• Stephen Hawryshko (Canada) is a visual artist. He is a graphics and authoring designer.