Another scientist showcasing work at New Frontier on Main is John Underkoffler, who helped out on the film Minority Report and invented that trick in which Tom Cruise wears gloves that could grab and move computer images in space. Underkoffler developed that idea into a new system for editing film that's the focus of his installation, Tamper.
Tamper is essentially the demonstration of the gestural-driven operating system he created--G speak--which allows filmmakers to edit film in a whole new way, using cutting-edge interface technology. Festivalgoers will become cinema collage artists, using their hands directly to grab and recompose film elements let loose from movies.
Frilot said she had long followed Underkoffler's work and has invited him to participate in New Frontier twice before. This year, he's ready to unveil the technology to the world, she said, and chose the Sundance venue in which to do it.
"It's really a kind of an example of how technology approximates art," she said. "The otherworldliness and resonance of it and the interface...make it the perfect piece to really articulate the crossroads of media technology, film, and art."
Frilot said she was intent on bringing more technical media artists to the roster, "but it's a boon to have someone who's developed something that is just so revolutionary that it can double as an art installation. It's the times."
Photo by Sundance Film Festival handout art
Caption by Michelle Meyers
