Exploring and Reasoning About Perceptual Spaces for Theatre, New Media Installations and the Performing Arts

This work extends earlier efforts to develop perceptual models to support qualitative spatial reasoning. Earlier work by the same team led to the development of powerful visual and proximity models. We discuss these models and their use to support analysis and design of theatrical productions. This analysis highlights a significant feature lacking from these models—the ability to model soundscapes. A new model is presented that addresses this lack—the model draws on the Huygen’s Principle of Wave Propagation to supplement the earlier models with a component that handles sound. The resultant segmentation of space is presented via a worked out example. Then, as a way of testing the relevancy and power of the new model, an artistic presentation was designed and presented to the conference. Using Homer’s Odyssey to provide the narrative structure, a 22-minute real-time performance involving dozens of virtual sound sources moving around in space was constructed, supported by in-house software developed to handle the manipulation of the audio tracks and virtual sound sources, and interfaced with a Denon 7.1 sound system. The artistic performance consisted of reproducing several virtual sound geographies in a manner consistent with the narrative. The use of a qualitative perceptual model to drive the real-time manipulation of virtual sound sources is, to our knowledge, a first. The artistic presentation served not only to illustrate the use of the model, but also to explore its power and relevancy to design initiatives with the performing arts.