YMYI (You Move You Interact) is an interactive installation, where one is supposed to build up a body language dialogue with an artificial system so as to effectively achieve a synchronized performance between the real user´s body and the virtual object itself. The project aims at exploring a spatial sphere,where the user/performer is invited to develop his own creative inspiration based on his own body gestures and movements.

Reflecting on the concept present in YMYI, we realized that the user expectations on our installation were twofold - narrative and image. Underlying these concepts, that relate to us as Humans, and our perception of ourselves and the surrounding environment, we truly believe that the following definitions presented by the scientist António Damásio constituted a resourceful enlightenment.

According to Damásio, on the one hand "the images (mental patterns) may be conscious or unconscious (...) The unconscious images are never directly accessible. The images access is to be provided in a single first person perspective ( my images, everyone´s images). On the other hand, the neural patterns are to be provided in a third person perspective. If I considered the possibility of observing my own neural patterns resorting to advanced technology, I would be always doing it in the third person perspective." ( DAMÁSIO, 2000:362).

We have the pleasure of leaving you an excerpt of his book "The Feeling of What Happens", which sums up the idealised proposal to the users of the YMYI artefact:

"It narrates a story, the story of a living organism unexpectedly astonished by performing its own change status while representing an object. However, what strikes the most is the fact that the knowing entity responsile for the act of astonishing is only created throughout the astonishment narration process."

(Damásio: 2000: 202.)
(1) DAMÁSIO, ANTÓNIO R. (2000). The Feeling of What Happens. Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness.
A Harvest Book
Harcourt Inc.

Conceito:

YMYI (You Move You Interact) é uma instalação interactiva onde se pretende criar um diálogo corporal com um sistema artificial, do qual resulta uma performance sincronizada entre um corpo real e um objecto virtual. O projecto visa a exploração de um espaço onde o utilizador desenvolve um processo criativo com base nos gestos e movimentos do seu corpo.

No decorrer das pesquisas realizadas para desenvolver e fundamentar cientificamente o protótipo que nos propusemos a criar, apercebemo-nos que, em termos das expectativas criadas no utilizador da plataforma YMYI, lidávamos com dois conceitos basilares, sendo eles narrativa e imagem. Sobre estes conceitos, directamente relacionados com o ser humano e com a sua percepção de si mesmo e do mundo, pensamos serem as definições dadas por António Damásio (2000)(1) as mais ricas e as que melhor defendem a perspectiva subjacente à nossa investigação.

Para Damásio, “As imagens (padrões mentais) podem ser conscientes ou não conscientes (…). As imagens não conscientes nunca são acessíveis directamente. Só temos acesso às imagens conscientes na perspectiva da primeira pessoa (as minhas imagens, as suas imagens). Por outro lado, só temos acesso aos padrões neurais na perspectiva da terceira pessoa. Ainda que eu tivesse a possibilidade de observar os meus próprios padrões neurais com a ajuda de uma tecnologia de ponta, estaria sempre a observá los na perspectiva da terceira pessoa.” (DAMÁSIO, 2000: 362).

Deixamos um excerto do livro “O Sentimento de Si” De António Damásio, que sintetiza a proposta idealizada para os utilizadores do artefacto YMYI:

“Narra uma história, a história do organismo surpreendido no acto de representar o seu próprio estado de mudança enquanto prossegue com a representação de um objecto. Porém, o mais surpreendente é que a entidade conhecedora do surpreender só é criada ao longo da narração do processo de surpreender.”

(Damásio: 2000: 202.)
(1) DAMÁSIO, António R. (2000). O Sentimento de Si. O Corpo, a emoção e a neurobiologia da consciência. Lisboa: Europa-América.

Setup / Configuração:

first sketch / esboço inicial:





end structure design / desenho estrutura final:

Exhibitions and Conferences / Exibições e Conferências:

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22nd of February, 2008
Information Systems Department
University of Minho, Portugal

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From the 29th of March to the 12th April, 2008
Forum da Maia
Main room at Fórum da Maia, YMYI exhibition
Maia town, Portugal

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From the 18th of April to the 20th April, 2008
SIARC - International Creative Arts Fair
Mercado Ferreira Borges
Oporto town, Portugal

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From the 18th to the 20th June, 2008
International Symposium on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging
YMYI Exhibition & Performance
Lisbon, Portugal

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04th July, 2008 (21:30)
Centro Cultural Vila Flôr (grande auditório)
YMYI Performance
Guimarães, Portugal

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July/August, 2008
Theater piece: "O Donzel do Cavaleiro Dom Quixote"
Written by Luis Matilla and directed by Moncho Rodriguez.
YMYI video sequences were used during the theater piece, inside an interactive stage.
Portugal

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10th of September, 2008
RTP - National Television Program Em Reportagem: "ninguém vive sosinho"
YMYI video sequences were used in a Video Report, reporting today's young children living without a family.
Portugal

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2nd of October, 2008
YMYI Project has been included in the curated selection of processing.org
http://processing.org/exhibition/curated_page_new.html

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From the 15th to the 17th October, 2008 (article presentation)
INTERACÇÃO 2008
3ª Conferência Nacional em Interacção Pessoa-Máquina
Article: "YMYI - You Move You Interact : Developing a dancing performance system for full body
interaction"
Universidade de Évora
Évora, Portugal

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17th of October, 2008
Talk at Shift'08
Social and Human Ideas For Technology
Lisbon's International Fair Meeting Centre
Parque das Nações, Lisbon, Portugal

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From the 06th to the 07th November, 2008 (article presentation)
ZON Digital Games Conference
Article: "You Move You Interact: Compreender os novos paradigmas de apreensão estética através de jogos digitais interactivos incorporando estádios cognitivos de aprendizagem"
Portuguese Catholic University
Porto, Portugal

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From the 07th to the 08th November, 2008 (article presentation)
ARTECH 2008
4th International Conference on Digital Arts
Article: "You Move You Interact: a full-body dance in-between reality and virtuality"
Portuguese Catholic University
Porto, Portugal

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From the 10th to the 13th November, 2008 (article presentation)
II Simpósio Nacional da ABCIBER
PUC-SP - ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE PESQUISADORES EM CIBECULTURA
Article: "YMYI - Uma dança virtual de corpos em metamorfose artística num ciberespaço"
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)
S. Paulo, Brasil

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15th of December, 2008
The ZON Prize for Creativeness in Multimedia (Prémio ZON)
Centro de Congressos do Estoril
YMYI was included in the final sellection of the the ZON prize for Creativeness in Multimedia.
YMYI received a Finalist Award
Lisboa, Portugal

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Picture of YMYI exhibition at Centro Cultural Vila Flôr in Guimarães, Portugal

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Publications / Publicações:

 

João Martinho Moura; Jorge Sousa; Pedro Branco & Adérito Fernandes Marcos. You Move You Interact: a full-body dance in-between reality and virtuality. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Digital Arts - ARTECH 2008, Porto, Portugal, November 2008. Pages 49-54. ISBN 978-989-95776-3-3

 

João Martinho Moura; Jorge Sousa; Nelson Zagalo. YMYI: Compreender os novos paradigmas de apreensão estética através de jogos digitais interactivos incorporando estádios cognitivos de aprendizagem. Actas da ZON Digital Games, Porto, Portugal, November 2008. ISBN 978-989-95500-2-5

 

João Martinho Moura; Jorge Sousa; Pedro Branco & Adérito Fernandes Marcos. You Move You Interact - Developing a dancing performance system for full body interaction. Actas da 3ª Conferência Nacional em Interacção Pessoa-Máquina, Évora, Portugal, October 2008. Pag. 41-44. ISBN 972-98464-9-9

 

João Martinho Moura; Jorge Sousa. YMYI – You move you interact: uma dança virtual de corpos em metamorfose artística num ciberespaço. Actas do II Simpósio Nacional da ABCIBER (Comissão de Arte Digital), S. Paulo, Brasil, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). November 2008.

 

João Martinho Moura; Jorge Sousa. University of Minho. Computational Aesthetics ’08: Arts Programme. Curated Exhibition. The Eurographics Association 2008. June 2008. Pag. 144. ISBN 978-3-905674-08-8

 

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Images / Imagens:

1	2
3	4

1 - YMYI experience / Experiência do YMYI

2 - body tracking technique / técniça de detecção do corpo

3 - body tracking technique / técniça de detecção do corpo

4 - body tracking with face and members detection / detecção do corpo com detecção de face e membros

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Videos / Vídeos:

YMYI Exhibition at Centro Cultural Vila Flôr
Guimarães, Portugal, July 2008.
Music: Artur Moura (Ontoêta)

YMYI - Centro Cultural Vila Flôr (2008 Exhibition) from Joao Martinho Moura on Vimeo.

YMYI - Exhibition at the International Symposium on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging June 2008, Lisbon, Portugal YMYI - Computational Aesthetics Exhibition (2008) from Joao Martinho Moura on Vimeo.

YMYI (Fórum da Maia e SIARC): (20/04/2008) YMYI You Move You Interact - Digital Art Instalation from Joao Martinho Moura on Vimeo.

YMYI (1st experience): (February, 2008)   YMYI experienced in a public space Fórum da Maia, Portugal, April 2008 Music: Artur Moura (Ontoêta) YMYI in public space from Joao Martinho Moura on Vimeo.

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Contact / Contacto:

e-mail 1: info@ymyi.org
e-mail 2: info@jmartinho.org
skype: jmartinhodesign
msn: jmm@jmartinho.net
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jmartinho
twitter: http://twitter.com/jmartinho
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24490876@N05/sets/72157604741773557/
vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/jmartinho/videos
phone: 00351915773240

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Links and Articles / Ligações e Artigos:

»» Jornal Primeiro de Janeiro "Eu ajo e encontro-me" (in portuguese)
http://www.ymyi.org/ymyi_imprensa_1janeiro.html

»» Art Catalogue/Computational Aesthetics 2008, The Eurographics Association 2008 (in english)
http://www.ymyi.org/Art_Catalogue_Computational_Aesthetics2008.html

»» "The YMYI experience" / "A experiência YMYI"
http://www.ymyi.org/experience.html

»» ArcNews "Clonagem Digital ganha asas" (in portuguese)
http://www.ymyi.org/ymyi_imprensa_arcnews.html

»» "Corpo Interactor" (Virtual-Illusion blog) (in portuguese)
http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com/2008/03/corpo-interactor.html

»» "YMYI" Hz Journal #12 (in english)
http://www.hz-journal.org/n12/ymyi.html

»» "Human-computer interaction and enlightenment in the YMYI project" //
"Interacção humano-computador e conhecimento em YMYI"
http://www.ymyi.org/interaction.html

»» Entropy Art (in english)
http://www.entropyart.org/profiles/blog/show?id=2055566%3ABlogPost%3A153

»» Jornal Público (in portuguese)
http://ultimahora.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1326060&idCanal=14

»» Space Collective - "Inspiring work at the intersection of art and technology. " (in english)
http://spacecollective.org/search/ymyi

»» Maia Portal da Cultura: »» Page 1 (in portuguese)
http://cultura.maiadigital.pt/multimedia/galeria-fotografica/album_imagem?tit=cdf1e60a8c8167aba63f84cb9fc11976&b_start:int=32

»»Jornal Correio do Minho "Projecto de Investigação no Salão de Artes Criativas" (in portuguese)
http://www.ymyi.org/ymyi_imprensa_cminho.html

»» Correio do Minho online - "Projecto de investigação no Salão de Artes Criativas" (in portuguese)
http://www.correiodominho.com/noticias.php?&IDTema=6&IDNoticia=31897

»» alignedleft - "Full-Body Gestural Interface" (in english)
http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/04/full-body-gestural-interface/

»» Jornal Destak - "Artes Urbanas no Porto" (in portuguese)
http://www.ymyi.org/ymyi_imprensa_destak.html

»» Rascunho.net - "SIARC'08 Apresenta feira de artistas no Porto" (in portuguese)
http://www.rascunho.net/artigo.php?id=1972

»» RHIZOME - AT THE NEW MUSEUM (in english)
http://rhizome.org/discuss/view/37135

»» The Kinetic Interface - "Art Installations Require Whole Body Experience" (in english)
http://greatdance.com/thekineticinterface/2008/05/art-installations-require-whol/