A Tangible Interface for Contemporary Wayang Kulit

Wayang Kulit is the oldest theatre form of Indonesia and one of the most important theatre traditions of Southeast Asia. This piece was developed as an interactive artwork for educational museums and as a thought experiment on how tangible, culturally-specific interfaces can constitute instances of academic research outputs. We developed a Tangible User Interface (TUI) using open source hardware (Arduino microcontrollers and an array of sensors), together with a web platform (Node.js and http://socket.io) to show how culturally-coded objects are important for archiving performances.

BIOS

Miguel Escobar Varela has worked as a theatre artists, web programmer and translator in Mexico, The Netherlands, Singapore and Indonesia. He is Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. More information at miguelescobar.com

Daniel Sim Yong En is currently completing a BA in Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. He has worked in the design and construction of sets for several theatre companies in Singapore, including Wild Rice and The Finger Players.