Blending Art and Science: Collapse (suddenly falling down)

Collapse (suddenly falling down) was a dance/theater/media production that brought together a diverse group of artists and scientists to explore the varied ways that social and natural systems collapse and the responses of human societies. This paper focuses on the nature of the collaboration, the unique products it produced and the lessons learned. Three art-science collaboration themes emerged: (1) implementation of a large-scale stereo display for 3D data; (2) exploration from a visual design perspective of digital scans of natural hazard sites normally used for scientific research; and (3) integration of optical tracking for interaction between performers and visualizations. Each theme is explored in detail and each member of the team reflects on lessons learned from the process.