Ethan Bach was interviewed by The Fulldome Blog by Jason Fletcher. The interview covers his recent work, information on the International Fulldome Arts Alliance, current dome art and event project, the future of fulldome, and more. Fletcher recently started vlogging when he attending IMERSA Summit. He is a natural video host and decided to continue with his new series The Dome Dialogues. Ethan became his first interviewee via Skype for the new The Dome Dialogue series.
The Fulldome Blog operates out of the Charles Hayden Planetarium is located within the Museum of Science, Boston. Jason Fletcher is a Science Visualizer & Live Presenter at the planetarium, since 2010.
The has an honest exchange with a nice flow. Corrections; Ethan transposed the name of University of Colorado Boulder and completely left out the name of the planetarium, Fiske. A shout our to those he referred to in the interview:
This Friday, the Institute of American Indian Arts in association with the University of New Mexico’s Art, Research, Technology & Science Laboratory (UNM ARTS Lab) will present the culmination of years of research in interactive immersive digital art in the digital dome. Utilizing vDome, a custom made software and hardware configuration created at IAIA, artists and students came together to create the first immersive interactive gaming art for the digital dome (aka fulldome). The event will take place Friday, January 30, 7pm to 9pm. Tonight’s Interactive Dome Event at IAIA is POSTPONED due to the weather. The new date is Friday, February 6, 7pm to 9pm.
This event will feature work by Woody and Steina Vasulka and the 4th Movement of “Ursonate” by Dada/Intermedia artist Kurt Schwitters as performed by Jack Ox and Kristen Loree. Other work will be featured by Ethan Bach, Luke Balaoro, Robert Drummond, Felicia Nez, Erin Schaefer, and Craig Tompkins. Presentation by researchers David Beining, Jane Crayton, Mats Reiniusson, and Charles Veasey.
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In 2012, the Institute of American Indian Arts announced the receipt of a $573,321 research grant from the Department of Defense entitled Fulldome Development for Interactive Immersive Training Capabilities. UNM ARTS Lab acted as sub awardees on this research.
The research project was built on an existing partnership between IAIA and UNM ARTS Lab. IAIA was one of two sub awardees, the second was Santa Fe Complex. In this 2010-2012 National Science Foundation Partnership for Innovation (NSF PFI) grant to the University of New Mexico (UNM) entitled A Consortium for Fulldome and Immersive Technology Development”.
The research developed from this grant provided new context for fulldome in terms of usability, diversity of content, and accessibility. The funding provided the resources necessary to create one of the first single computer user friendly, multiple application dome systems. This software, vDome, can drag and drop play large format dome masters as .mov files with slicing on the fly; allows for connecting various applications including Max/MSP and Vjing software along with external sensors for audience driven interactivity; and allows for gaming in the dome. This software is open source and be downloaded from github. Read more about vDome.
The IAIA DoD grant provided courses and month long paid hands on learning internships for students from IAIA and UNM. IAIA students are currently working in dome production. Students learned skills that fostered in creative, intellectual, technical, and self-esteem building development. To produce something for the dome was no small feat, but previous to vDome students also had to learn to write programming language in order to get their stuff to play or hand their work over to someone else to play it for them. vDome allowed students control over their own content in the dome and not just in the computer lab.
For more information regarding the progress of this grant and documentation of some of the research, please see the BETA blog research and UNM ARTS Lab Blog.
In November, I will participate on a panel at the Nation Congress of American Indians annual conference in Portland, Oregon. The session is entitled, “Advancing Tribal Communities through Participation in the Digital Age”. The session will focus on broadband broadcasting and new technologies for disseminating information. The session will be November 1, 2011 from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the Oregon Convention Center.
Advancing Tribes Through Participation in the Digital Age
The country overall has begun its transition from analog to digital media and communications services. In order for Indian Country to be competitive and productive participants in the national and global economies, tribes must actively expand, create, and retain access to broadband services. This session will focus on various forms of funding criteria available to tribes for the establishment of tribally owned and operated telecommunications, and also highlight benefits to healthcare, education, and tribal governance through utilization of broadband services.
Our shared journey toward tribal prosperity
With every step and every action we take as Native people and sovereign nations our footsteps carry us toward a new era of tribal prosperity. The ever-increasing depth of our cultures, strength of our traditions, and diversity of our Native resources serve as a guide on the path to reaching the new meaning of tribal prosperity; defined by the health of our people, the strength of our sovereignty, and the vibrancy of our nations. At NCAI’s 68th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon we celebrate together, the journey our ancestors embarked on generations before us. As we step forward together on this path we fulfill our promise to the generations to come.
