The history of abstract animation and light performance
points towards an aesthetic of temporal abstraction which
digital computer graphics can ideally explore. Computer
graphics has leapt forward to embrace three-dimensional
texture mapped imagery, but stepped over the broad
acsthetic terrain of two-dimensional interactive dynamic
abstraction. Several experiments in using
pure human
movement as the interface to dynamic abstract systems are
presented with the goal of creating phenomenological
interfaces that engage the unconscious mind directly.
These applications are visual instruments that allow
immediate
understanding of a dynamic system, but point
towards infinite challenges in their mastery as any good
artistic medium. The lessons from these experiments can
be applied to computer animation, human-computer
interface and the aesthetics of time-varying light.