EVL Faculty Professor, School of Design

Daria Tsoupikova

Written and programmed for EVL&rsquo;s CAVE2 by UIC Masters of Design student Quentin Bu, &ldquo;Elegy&rdquo; is a highly experimental virtual reality work, merging the artist&rsquo;s original poetry and audio composition, graphic design, 3D typography and physical computing activated through participant movement and gestures. Created as Bu&rsquo;s Masters thesis - Elegy uniquely combines performance art with virtual reality. 
To escape, to free, to grow, to part, to forget, to recall, is to reorganize and make choices about what to let go of and what to hold on to, and it is to physically leave a place and move far away without knowing if you&rsquo;ll find a way back. 
Writing is my emotional conduit, for the moments when strong emotions have nowhere else to flow: whether it&rsquo;s journaling, composing bad poetry, scribbling on an airplane sickness bag, jotting down stream of consciousness, or repeating phrases in my head while wandering around unfamiliar streets. The Elegy is my poetic, perhaps futile attempt to consolidate and immortalize the transitory states of life. 
My design methods include object-making, working with restrictions, experimenting with technology, and exploring metaphors. An Elegy for the Departed is a culmination of my creative endeavors with the media to realize them. 
The Elegy is also a technological experiment. It is a performance using wearable technology to track body movements, connecting the physical body with a virtual digital metaphor for a body. What does typography in virtual reality spaces look like? How can I best use the technology I&rsquo;ve developed to effectively tell a story?

Elegy in EVL&rsquo;s CAVE2

An Elegy for the Departed - an Interactive Virtual Reality+Physical Computing Typographic Performance

Master of Design graduate student Quentin Bu presents her virtual reality performance piece &ldquo;An Elegy for the Departed - an Interactive Virtual Reality+Physical Computing Typographic Performance&rdquo; in EVL&rsquo;s CAVE2. 
Friday, May 5, 2023 
11:15 - 11:45 AM 
Room 2036 ERF 
Elegy is a highly experimental virtual reality work, merging the artist&rsquo;s original poetry and audio composition, graphic design, 3D typography and physical computing activated through participant movement and gestures. In the artist&rsquo;s own words &ldquo;The Elegy is my poetic, perhaps futile attempt to consolidate and immortalize the transitory states of life.&rdquo;

MDES Thesis Presentation &ldquo;The Elegy&rdquo;

The National Science Foundation has awarded EVL a Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant to build the Data Observation and Computation Collaboratory (DOCC) in the new Computer Design Research and Learning Center (CDRBC) building. The Data Observation and Computation Collaboratory (DOCC, &rsquo;the dock&rsquo;) is a much-needed visual data science instrument for UIC science and engineering research and research training. DOCC provides high-performance computing, advanced networking, high-speed data storage, interactive high-resolution displays and software and services for Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML), data analytics, data simulations, visualization, and virtual-reality requirements. Given how varied modern data-science application requirements can be, DOCC is designed as a configurable, heterogeneous computing environment that prioritizes real-time, interactive, collaborative applications and remote data streaming, but can be scheduled off-hours for large, batch-mode processing. 
DOCC will empower users to work with their data and their colleagues in real-time, test codes, view a &rsquo;window in the oven&rsquo;to watch large simulations run, and simultaneously view results along with related data and ensemble runs on large display walls. DOCC has a visual front end that enables users to easily access familiar collaboration tools, scientific notebooks, AI/ML workflows, and popular visualization software. 
Alternatively, users can add new AI/ML models or create them from scratch. And because DOCC will be connected to the campus research network, data and/or computer codes can be ported to remote computer and cloud resources located on campus, regionally, nationally, or internationally. 
A room-sized instrument, DOCC will be located in the high-trafficked atrium of the new CDRLC, home to the UIC Computer Science Department, part of the College of Engineering, situated across from an auditorium and multi-purpose event space. This location will promote UIC data-science research initiatives and the instrument&rsquo;s collaboration potential. DOCC will also be used to conduct campus research meetings, programs and training initiatives. 
Award Number (FAIN): 2320261 
Period of Performance: 10/01/2023 - 09/30/2026 
Project Title: Research Infrastructure: MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of Data Observation and Computation Collaboratory (DOCC)

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