Before moving on, please first familiarise yourself with the description of the challenge and the schedule. What follows is a more detailed explanation. The rulebook will be progressively updated as we get closer to the challenge and eventually finalised by the beginning of May 2023.
Teams
A team is composed of exactly two people, with no specific requirement on its composition regarding gender, expertise with technology, or any other skill. Each team will be assigned a technical coach from the organising team. The technical coach assists the team during the trials, taking care of the drone operation. The technical coach, for example, is in charge of preparing the drone for take-off, fixing damages if/when they occur, and replacing batteries whenever needed.
Drones
Each team will be provided with a pre-programmed drone. The drone realises a predefined behaviour that matches people’s interactions around it with given movements in space. For example, the drone may move sideways whenever a person approaches it, or move up/down whenever a person waives a hand at it. The teams are not informed of the behaviour of the drone they are assigned but should, rather, discover the behaviour during the trials and explore how they might move with the drone. The team’s task is to prepare a performance for the challenge, to be executed on the final day.
Performance
The performance you set up on the final day of the challenge is entirely up to you. We want you to be creative and move together with the drone to deliver the best show you can! Think of this like “dancing with the drone” or “acting with the drone”. Your performance should ideally last between 1 and 2 minutes. You may be accompanied by some music, just ask us and we’ll play it for you! You may also think about anything else that may make your performance more interesting, including dressing up or somehow decorating the stage. If you want to decorate the drone somehow, your technical coach may tell you what is possible and what is not. In general, feel free to contact your technical coach prior of the challenge to check out what is possible and what is not.
The only real rule here is that you cannot touch the drone during the performance, and that the performance must take place in the designated area in the Reaktor Hall. One or both of the team members may be part of the final performance.
Jury
The performance of each team will be evaluated by a jury, consisting of Åsa Unander-Scharin, Rachael Garrett, Moira McGregor, and Frederico Scaramellini.