Archiving Performative Objects

FAIN: PR-253380-17

Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, GA 30318-6395)
Michael Nitsche (Project Director: June 2016 to May 2019)

The development of an interactive system that provides access to a puppet’s functionality and expression by allowing the viewer to manipulate and “play,” through game-like technology, with a puppet or other performative object held in a digital archive.

Archiving Performative Objects is a collaboration between Georgia Tech and the Center for Puppetry Arts (CPA), both in Atlanta. It asks how we can use digital media to archive an object's functionality as "object in use." Expanding from the use of 3D visualization and reproduction, the project aims to include usage of objects through digital means and interaction design.   The project will scan up to 15 puppets from the CPA's archive and develop an interactive system to provide access to the puppets' functionality and expression. Users can interact with these puppets, which are notoriously difficult to access and conserve, through either desktop or virtual reality (VR) software.  The system will be designed to fit into existent database structures and aims to prototype a technical solution as well as a research tool for digital humanities scholars and archivists. The CPA provides expertise in puppet archiving and manipulation, while Georgia Tech covers interaction design and technical implementation.