This project was developed during 2009 as part of my MFA thesis at the
Design Media Arts department at UCLA. It consisted in the creation of a live cinema piece using a number of resources for real-time AV performance and a combination of digital and physical (or "analog") elements. The main narrative theme in this piece was the realization of death during childhood, explored through memories of the disaster of the
space shuttle Challenger occurred in 1986. From the point of view of the resource, I investigated the idea of liminality or "in-between-spaces" that is often associated to the use of digital media in live performance.
My motivation in exploring the form of so-called
"live cinema" partially came from earlier experiences I had in the context of live AV performance, as well as in an interest to incorporate additional elements such as live drawing, and the use of mixed media. The thesis commitee for this project included professors
Erkki Huhtamo (chair),
Jennifer Steinkamp,
Casey Reas, and
Daniel Shiffman (external member). The piece was first shown as part of the DMA-MFA 09 graduate show, on May 14th, 2009. Slightly adapted versions of "Latent State" were later performed at the
Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, LA, on June 29th 2009, and during the
Make Art Festival 2010 in Poitiers, France, November 5th 2010.