2-BSide

6B —Thursday, March 22, 2018
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Courtesy of the DIA

When people ask me what 
Performing Arts Technology 
is, I sometimes struggle to 
find the precise definition. For 
such a specific department, 
the vastness of its contents is 
pretty 
overwhelming, 
even 
for someone in the major. 
Everyone 
in 
the 
program 
has a different passion and 
a different area of the field 
that they’re pursuing, some of 
which may not even exist yet.
The PAT Showcase this 
past Saturday gave audiences 
a glimpse into the expansive 
cross-section of technology 
and art.
The showcase took place 
over two separate sections, one 
in the Chip Davis Technology 
Studio and one in Macintosh 
Theatre. Each event had its 
own unique performances and 
presentations that felt original 
and creative.
In the Davis Studio, live 
performances 
constituted 
many of the performances, 
however, many acts were pre-

recorded and produced pieces 
that 
students 
composed. 
The Davis Studio boasts a 
unique listening environment, 
complete with a plethora of 
state-of-the-art speakers to 
create an immersive listening 
environment 
for 
audiences. 
The 
presentation 
of 
these 
electronic compositions was 
really interesting, and although 
it 
seemed 
like 
something 
you wouldn’t typically see at 
an SMTD concert, they still 
seemed to be treated as such, 
with light dimming before they 
were performed and audiences 
applauding after.
A 
lot 
of 
times 
in 
a 
conservatory 
environment, 
electronically 
produced 
music is seen as inferior to 
traditionally composed music. 
At the showcase, this notion 
seemed 
to 
be 
completely 
abandoned: 
Each 
unique 
piece was given attention and 
respect. The differences in 
each piece were celebrated by 
the audience and the students 
alike. These strictly electronic 
pieces brought nuance to a 
musical climate that often 
feels void of emotion and 
creativity. Many are against 
the implementation of more 
electronics 
in 
music, 
but 
how could you be against a 
movement 
that 
encourages 
creativity?
As a PAT student within 
SMTD, 
I 
have 
constantly 
been encouraged to engage 
in collaborative projects with 
other members of the school 
in 
both 
conventional 
and 
experimental ways. This desire 
to collaborate, with other PAT 
majors and with other artists, 
was made abundantly apparent 
at the showcase. Many works 
involved students playing a 
variety of instruments in a 
variety of genres, and using 
technology 
to 
alter 
their 
timbre or to accompany them.
One of my favorite pieces 
from the night was “War 
Machines 
Dance 
to 
Piano 
Music” by Matias Vilaplana 

and 
Joey 
Panlertkitsakul. 
The piece involved Matias, 
a graduate student in the 
program, 
using 
electronics 
to alter Joey’s piano playing. 
By 
miking 
the 
piano, 
Matias was able to alter the 
sounds with delays, filters 
and 
reverberation 
in 
live 
performance, as well as alter 
videos 
of 
machines 
being 
projected 
on 
screen. 
The 
music felt very minimalistic, 
however, in conjunction with 
live signal processing. The 
piece evolved into something 
completely different and more 
expansive over time.
Some other performances 
included saxophonists from 
the jazz department and a solo 
double bass piece by Spencer 
Haney from their upcoming 
senior thesis. There was no 
shortage of variety at the 
showcase.
Things also took a turn 
towards a more commercial 
direction. Artists like Clem 
Turneri and Aliyah Marie 
Smith shared songs off of 
their upcoming and recently 
released albums. Borrowing 
from R&B, pop and even 
experimental influences, the 
artists sang their own songs 
in 
addition 
to 
performing 
live 
looping, 
mixing 
and 
projecting. The performances 
showed a completely different 
side 
to 
PAT 
than 
many 
other performances in the 
department. Although many 
had modern influences, these 
two 
specifically 
felt 
more 
independent and void of a need 
to be groundbreaking. These 
performances 
showcased 
the songwriting talents PAT 
majors are capable of.
The one thing that cannot be 
emphasized enough here is just 
how diverse this showcase, 
and the PAT department itself, 
actually is. While students 
generally take the same classes 
during their first year of study, 
they 
eventually 
break 
out 
and start to take classes that 
interest them and the areas 
they want to focus on, and this 
was especially apparent by just 
how many different types of 
performances there were.
Another 
detail 
to 
note 
is 
just 
how 
involved 
the 
department is. Not only are 
PAT majors involved in all 

sorts of different productions 
across campus, but younger 
members of the community are 
just as involved as the seniors. 
Seeing a large representation 
of the newer members of 
the department was really 
inspiring to me. Technology in 
art is moving at a rapid pace, 
and it’s nice to know that the 
new generation of PAT majors 
is just as motivated to advance 
this world as the past.
This year’s PAT showcase 
was one of the best the 
department 
has 
ever 
had. 
Not 
only 
were 
members 
of the community able to 
showcase the bridge between 
art 
and 
technology 
in 
a 
variety 
of 
different 
ways, 
but students were able to 
express themselves through 
technology. Many may argue 
that music and art, in general, 
feel more artificial with the 
increased implementation of 
new technology. But with the 
passion that the performers 
displayed on Saturday night, 
I’m not sure if I can give this 
argument much credibility. 

A PAT major’s 
reflections on 
the program

RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer

The tranquil, introspective 
air of the Detroit Institute of 
Arts was suddenly violated by 
the phone I was clutching in 
my hand and its unsolicited 
decision to blare a tribal drum 
beat. At lightspeed, I pressed 
down on the volume controls 
all while fellow museum-goers 
cast disapproving looks in my 
direction. To all the people I 
secretly giggled at when your 
phone went off in class, I’m 
sorry. I now understand your 
pain.
The room couldn’t clear out 
slower as I sat on a cushy bench 
inspecting my shoelaces. When 
the last person left carrying my 
eternal embarrassment, I could 
finally freely use the reason I 
came all the way downtown. 
The main attraction of my latest 
DIA visit is what the museum 
calls Lumin, a mobile tour that 
uses Google’s Tango augmented 
reality (AR) platform to supply 
visitors with a modern way 
to innovatively engage with 
the 
museum’s 
collection. 
However, it is less a tour than 
it is a personal learning tool. 
The 
entirety 
of 
Lumin 
is 
loaded onto a single Android 
smartphone that the DIA rents 
out to visitors; you become the 
tour guide and decide what 
you want to experience in this 
strange new digital world.
The seven exhibits currently 
integrated with Lumin each 
implement the technology in 
distinct ways. A variety of AR 
experiences are available at 
one’s fingertips, from a Persian 
cylinder seal rolling out an 
impression 
on 
virtual 
wet 
clay to a tree stump gradually 
being carved out to match the 
Yoruba 
royal 
presentation 
bowl sitting behind a glass 

case. Sight is not the only 
sense Lumin manipulates — 
my aforementioned brush with 
societal ostracism turned out to 
incorporate sound effectively 
(just when I was the only 
person listening). In front of 
me hung multiple war drums 
with depictions of thunderbirds 
embellishing them. Tapping on 
one of them via Lumin added a 
musical layer that combined to 
beautifully produce traditional 
Native American piece.
Due to the inanimate nature 
of most visual art, what one sees 
is what one gets. There may be 
written descriptions next to 
a painting, or knowledgeable 
museum staffers present to 
enrich one’s understanding of 
the art, but they are accessory. 
The 
central 
relationship 
between art and audience is 
defined by the latter; only the 
viewer can decide how they 
personally interpret the art 
and what emotions it evokes. 
With 
Lumin, 
however, 
the 
smartphone becomes a living 
lens, a third party that connects 
the other two through a whole 
new dimension.
The presentation of Lumin 
lends itself to education. While 
I was circling an Egyptian 
sarcophagus 
to 
reveal 
an 
X-ray view of the skeleton 
inside, the device also revealed 
information. 
Touching 
key 
points on the mummy brought 
up slides and images that 
described 
the 
process 
of 
mummification and how the 
curators cared for the artifact. 
The whole experience connects 
visitors with art in global 
contexts beyond the physical 
walls of the museum. In a press 
release about the technology, 
current DIA director Salvador 
Salort-Pons 
praised 
these 
educative 
values, 
saying 
“augmented reality allows the 
user to see the unseen, imagine 
art 
in 
its 
original 
setting 

and understand how objects 
were used and experienced in 
people’s everyday lives.”
There is no denying that 
today’s 
youth 
is 
acutely 
accustomed to technology all 
across the board. While this 
has created separate problems 
in and of themselves, this 
connection can be positively 
exploited to trick kids into 
learning without them even 
realizing. Although I loved 
going to museums when I 
was young, I dreaded having 
to sit through guided tours 
and being overwhelmed with 
waves of information. I wanted 
to explore at my own pace 
and learn in my own way, but 
unfortunately, 
to 
a 
child’s 
mind, most art is surface-
level, and trying to explain it 
to them usually leaves them 
more confused than they were 
before. Yet after my latest 
adventure at the DIA, I am 
convinced that technology like 
Lumin is prime for education; it 
sits perfectly at the crossroads 
of explanation and exploration.
The problem, however, lies 
in the fact that Lumin has a 
bit of an identity crisis. It is 
only in the prototype phase, 
but there are minor issues 
with the experience. I had 
to go back and get a second 
device after my first one froze, 
and only select artifacts on 
the first floor are given stops, 
rather than centerpieces of the 
collection like Diego Rivera’s 
Detroit Industry Murals — 
the DIA does assure though 
that similarly requested stops 
will be added in the coming 
months. Silly enough, I also 
couldn’t shake the feeling that 
I was some vapid YouTube 
personality vlogging due to 
the mounted grip that was 
used to hold up the phone. 
Despite these, the real issue 
is that Lumin is more geared 
towards a sophisticated adult 

mind rather than a child’s. 
Kids would definitely be able 
to use the technology with the 
help of an adult, but the whole 
experience is not very kid-
friendly; the UI is sleek and 
modern, but caters to the tech-
savvy. It asks a lot of the user 
and almost requires them to 
have a previous understanding 
of similar technology to truly 
get the most out of it.
While I’m not trying to 
say only children should be 
getting educated in the arts, 
the most important factor in 
cultivating an appreciation for 
the arts is starting at an early 
age. Kids possess a genuine 
sense of wonder and awe when 
experiencing 
art, 
but 
they 
don’t know how to make the 
most out of it. Giving them an 
innovative avenue like Lumin, 
which not only excites and 
entices them but also teaches 
them 
in 
a 
method 
suited 
towards their sensibilities, can 
help them understand art on a 
fundamental level and tap into 
their own creative potential.
During my excursion, I came 
across a local troop of Brownie 
Scouts about to embark on a 
guided tour of the museum. I 
overheard their troop leader 
telling them that the point 
of today’s journey was to see 
the pretty pictures as more 
than pretty pictures. And as 
the bright sun shone upon 
them through the windows 
of the atrium, I realized they 
were 
about 
to 
encounter 
that 
amazing 
moment 
of 
artistic 
illumination, 
the 
same mysterious and magical 
illumination that Lumin is 
named after and attempts to 
recreate. Although Lumin and 
other AR technology like it still 
require retooling before it can 
become a truly intuitive and 
educational tool, holding the 
phone in my hand, I couldn’t 
help but feel like a kid again.

‘Don’t touch the art,’ unless it’s on 
your phone: Augmented reality 
and the future of art education 

ROBERT MANSUETTI
Daily Arts Writer

Courtesy of the DIA

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

A lot of times in 
a conservatory 
environment, 
electronically 
produced music 
is seen as inferior 
to traditionally 
composed music 

This year’s PAT 
showcase was one 
of the best the 
department has 
ever had 

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

