Author: Francie

 
Perhaps you are not familiar with “ACG”, but you might have heard of some representative works in this field, such as Pokemon, Dragon Ball, or Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku. ACG is the abbreviation of “Anime, Comic, and Games”, and the phrase refers to the cultural phenomenon and relative industries in East Asia, especially in Japan.
The project Ritual of Summoning was born under the trend of digitalized fandom in ACG culture. Its creative interaction and open-ended design can introduce participants to an unprecedented experience across both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional worlds. Here the participants play the role of a chosen master, and they can uncover the mysterious magic circle and launch the sacred ritual of summoning. With the participants’ powerful internal spirit, the unknown ACG characters will wake up and respond to their commands. Then, the participants are free to discover what they can do with the summoned force.
Located in the center of all the attempts is the core question: how to break the wall between 2-dimensional and 3- dimensional space? Traditionally, ACG fans are considered as passive receivers of plotted stories, as they wait for weekly anime updates in front of televisions or purchase monthly published comics from bookstores. Unlike sports and music industries where fans usually get a chance to interact with their favorite idols, hardly can ACG fans take part in similar events. Because the celebrities in ACG works are either on printed paper or on screen, it is impossible for fans to attend autograph sessions and meet with characters face to face. An invisible gap lies between the physical world where fans live and the media where characters are created.
As Mizuko Ito mentions in Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World, “Fans are not merely consumers of content but also creators of content that is of special significance to them (Jenkins 1992; Penley 1997). Part of what Jenkins (1992, 2006) has described as a participatory media culture, fans are an audience that actively and proactively creates meaning” (230-231). Out of affection as well as the demand of interactivity, ACG fans have been eager to reproducing 2-dimensional assets into 3-dimensional formats by, for example, performing Cosplay and making handcrafted Garage Kits. In recent years, technological developments have also paved the way for cross-dimensional communication in ACG community. More and more digital fandom products have benefited from video/audio editing platforms, 3D modeling techniques, human-computer interaction devices, and artificial intelligence systems. It really changes the way in which people interact in ACG culture, and promotes the whole industry to a higher stage.
My project Ritual of Summoning combines skeleton tracking and hologram projection to explore a simplified prototype of artificial intelligence. Kinect connected to Processing tracks human body movements and further transforms them into data. Hologram projection generates a 3-dimensional illusion in a pyramid-like container which can be seen with naked eyes. The entire project allows participants to experience kinetic interaction with ACG characters and enjoy a vivid 3-dimensional visual effect. It also mimics how an artificial intelligent system works and makes a bold assumption on futuristic imaging technology. Most significantly, this project explores cross-dimensional communication in ACG culture and creates a platform for ACG fans to interact with their favorite characters creatively.