The PSPSR UGM Sharing Session was held again on Thursday (27/7) in Meeting Room 1 of the UGM Postgraduate School. The Sharing Session on this occasion invited guests from the Department of English, Linguistics & Theater Studies National University of Singapore (NUS) – Assoc Prof. Miguel Escobar Varela. The current Sharing Session focuses on the role of technology in art. Several breakthroughs were conveyed by Prof. Miguel regarding the importance of technology as a method in previous documentation so that the benefits can be reaped up to now. Prof. Miguel gave a discourse on the proportional documentation of wayang kulit in the 18th century AD and a discourse on the documentation of kinesthetic technology-based dance. This technological discourse can be used as a means for anyone to learn certain dances based on competent demonstrators.
Also present were Dr. Ganesh Neelakanta Iyer who also gave a discourse on the importance of technology for archiving the forms of ‘hand mudras’ and forms of facial expressions in Kathakali art from Kerala, South India. Dr. Ganesh provided an insight that the existence of gestures and facial expressions in Kathakali art has a crucial role, because they are used as a form of non-verbal expression. Contact with the existence of technology can help artists or art connoisseurs to be involved in staging and understand its substance.
The discussion from the participants made this sharing session even more interesting. The discussion directs how the discourse on Artificial Intelligence and all technological methods can provide sufficient information for the next generation. The information is expected to embrace all aspects of society and be relevant, even though the contestation of information opens up opportunities.
