The Lucid Dream Ensemble: a laboratory of discovery in the age of convergence

Abstract

This paper describes the formation, creations and performances of a digital arts performing ensemble. It considers issues of collaboration across media, especially in the context of composed audio-visual improvisation (comprovisation). By contextualising our creative work within the wider discourse of both the practice and aesthetics of contemporary intermedia, we seek to enhance the potential relevancy of the article's main focus to readers.

The story of the Lucid Dream Ensemble is one of contemporary creative activity in the realm of digital arts. It exists in a university setting, and its purpose is educational as well as artistic. Founded at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 2002, the ensemble seeks to foster collaboration across auditory and visual boundaries. The group is made up of audio-visual performers who control laptop computers in real-time by various interactive means. Its canvas is a surround-sound set-up, as well as three projectors. The ensemble seeks a true integration of video and audio, as expressed in the creation of audio-visual artefacts aimed at providing an immersive experience. The group has progressed from presenting unrelated audio and video, to integrating the process of creation of sound and image, to collecting audio and video as a group and processing them collaboratively.