Tripping the light fantastic in city’s historic streets

Clouds of digital butterflies and footprints following you down the street are the product of a groundbreaking collaboration between lecturers and digital technology company KMA, making the ancient streets of York a fascinating place to be after dark.

Dr Sita Popat and Scott Palmer from the school of performance and cultural industries have been working with KMA on an installation to ‘refresh, re-interpret and breathe new life into York’s historic urban environment’.

A hidden infrared camera senses the body heat of passers-by, and a computer then projects a series of images onto the person. “The installation is very beautiful, and astonishing to interact with,” said Dr Popat. “You get a real sense of the aesthetic engagement with technology.”
Although technology has an important role in the installation, it is invisible to pedestrians. Their own movements influence what they see, and the results will be different every time.

The collaboration sprang from a KMA work placement for Leeds student Nicola Greenan. “It was a leap of faith on both parts,” said Dr Popat. “We spent two days brainstorming ideas and exploring the technology in the performance studio. We discovered there was huge potential for a transdisciplinary approach between technologists and performance academics.”

This research with Leeds academics has informed KMA’s recent collaboration with Phoenix Dance Theatre on their production of “Eng-er-land”, currently on tour nationally in the UK. It is also likely to lead to a project working with disabled performers, whose movements will control projected images.

Dancing in the Streets was launched by celebrity scientist Adam Hart-Davis on Davygate on March 11 and will run until June. The project was commissioned as part of the York Renaissance Project, funded by Yorkshire Forward and York City Council.

Photo: Ancient meets modern – the installation in York was launched by dancers who invited members of the public to join in