My Work

Depero Futuristi

Depero Futuristi Logo

Depero Futuristi is a student team at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center re-imagining Balli Plastici, the "plastic dance" created by Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero in 1918. The marionettes used in the dance encapsulate the Futurist ideal of machinery striving to break free of human control. Our goal is to digitize Depero's puppets and develop a toolkit anyone can use to create their own Futurist-inspired ballets. Our efforts will move the marionettes beyond mere appreciation, propelling them continually forward as living art.

As a student project, Depero Futuristi took place in the Fall Semester of 2009. The project consisted of two deliverables: a 30 minute-long video performance which aimed to re-imagine the original ballet and a software called ToyBox Futuristi which enables anybody to create their own version of the ballet.

We completed the performance on Novemeber 2009 and traveled to New York in order to present it at the Museum of Art and Design in the frame of the Performa 09 festival, along with a live demo of our software in order to explain to the audience how any of them would be able to create a similar performance in the near future. Our performance was very well received and has sprouted interest from other art institutions in our work, mainly the Nabi Art Gallery in Downtown Seoul, South Korea.

By mid-December 2009 we completed the final version of our software, ToyBox Futuristi, which enables anybody to create their own version of Balli Plastici. The software was playtested with both children and adults and was very well-received by our guests, public, peers and faculty members. The video below gives a brief overview of the software's functionality.

Below is a list detailing some of the aspects of the project in which I was most involved.

* Design. Even though all the design decisions were approved as a team, my main role in the project was that of designer. I was deeply involved in the brainstorming, sketching and implementation of the user interface, user experience flow, data flow, in-engine recording and playback system and other key features of the software.

* Scene Recording. In order to record the video that was presented in NY it was necessary to record one scene at a time. Our director, Franco Sciannameo, gave us basic directions that I interpreted and adapted to the digital medium alongside with Goutham Dindukurthi. The two of us were responsible for recording the scenes using the ToyBox Futuristi software, a task that challenged us both artistically and technically.

* Programming. I worked on the integration of the lights and shadow shader with the toolkit as well as with the early planning and design of the general software flow. We coded the software in the Panda3D engine using Python.

* Live Demos. I was in charge of giving our live demo presentations of the software to guests and visitors as well as in public events, along with Goutham, who controlled the software as I gave the demos. I demoed the software publicly at the Performa 09 presentation as well as in our faculty presentations. The video above is an accurate representation of these demos.

To read more about the project, please visit Depero Futuristi's website.