Meet Me at the Fair: A World's Fair Reader is a multi-disciplinary exploration of the many cultural facets and lasting influence of the World's Fair international exhibitions. From the Crystal Palace in 1851 London to Expo 2010 Shanghai China, this edited collection examines the lasting influence of expositions on culture, technology, design, architecture, engineering, entertainment, and media over time and across the globe.

Scheduled to be published by Carnegie Mellon University’s ETC Press

Edited by Dr. Celia Pearce, Dr. Laura Hollengreen, Rebecca Rouse, and Bobby Schweizer, Georgia Institute of Technology. Visit the official website for more information.

Investigating what "Art" means today

Playing off the form of "hot or not" websites, ArtNotArt creates a playful experience in which users vote on images, designating them either as Art or Not Art. Users are invited to write comments explaining their opinions, and share comments through Twitter and Facebook. ArtNotArt aims to spark conversation about the meaning of the concept "Art" in contemporary culture.





Experience Design: Jay David Bolter, Rebecca Rouse, Nachiketas Ramanujam, Sanika Mokashi.

AR Experience for the High Museum of Art

Acclaimed outsider artist, Howard Finster (1916-2001), was a Baptist minister in Summerville, GA, where he created a fantastical art environment, Paradise Garden. Several works from the garden are now displayed in Atlanta's High Museum of Art. pARadise gARden uses the Argon AR browser to bring the immersive feeling of Finster's garden into the museum environment and educate museum visitors about the original context of the works on display.

Experience Design: Jay David Bolter, Fred Leighton, Rebecca Rouse, Nachiketas Ramanujam, Sanika Mokashi, Chanju Lee, Libo Su.
Argon Developed By:  Blair Macintyre, Alex Hill, Maribeth Gandy, Brian Davidson, Jeff Wilson, Hafiz Rouzati, Cory Simon

Performative Candy Dispenser for Piedmont Park

Created in the DWIG (Digital World Image Group) project studio and presented as a proof-of-concept project for Digital Media Demo Day in December 2010, Ducks Feed People playfully subverts the relationship between resident waterfowl and visitors to Atlanta's Piedmont Park. As ducks in the park's Clara Meer Lake scrabble for bread thrown by park visitors, a computer vision system activates an oversized duck head that dispenses Tootsie Roll candies for park visitors.

Watch a video of Ducks Feed People here.
This project will be featured on Virgin Atlantic Flights' Boingboing channel May and June 2011.

Experience Design: Michael Nitsche, Andrew Quitmeyer, Rebecca Rouse, Thomas Lodato, Vignesh Swaminathan, Andrew Roberts, Matthew Drake

Handheld AR Experience in Atlanta's historic Oakland Cemetery

The Voices of Oakland uses Augmented Reality (AR) to introduce the visitor to the personal histories of the cemetery. Carrying an iPhone, the visitor walks among the graves and listens to the voices of historical figures interred at Oakland. The visitor can tailor the experience to suit her interests through the touchscreen interface. The Voices of Oakland is a prototype created using Argon, an AR browser which was conceived and implemented by the Augmented Environments Lab in the GVU Venter at the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

To experience the Voices of Oakland, first download Argon to your iPhone, then open this site and click here. 

Watch a video about the project here.

Experience Design: Jay David Bolter, Rebecca Rouse, Jenifer Vandagriff, Steven Dow, Maribeth Gandy, Jaemin Lee, Danny Muller, Nachiketas Ramanujam, Fred Leighton, Sanika Mokashi, Chanju Lee, Libo Su.
Argon Developed By:  Blair Macintyre, Alex Hill, Maribeth Gandy, Brian Davidson, Jeff Wilson, Hafiz Rouzati, Cory Simon
Music: Brendan Padgett   Voices: Manny Oliveira, Jackie Pricha, Steven Wunch.

Handheld AR Art Installation about the shipping container system


Installed at the ACM Creativity and Cognition 2009 conference at the Berkeley Art Museum, [inbox] is an art installation about the shipping container system and its inventor, Malcom McLean. The experience is set inside an ISO standards 20" shipping container, and uses handheld AR, 35mm slides, a map, a mannequin, audio recordings, and paper cut-and-fold models to tell the story of the invention of the shipping container system, and guide visitors through their own complex relationships with the system today. 


Watch a video about the [inbox] installation here.

Read papers about [inbox] here.

Experience Design: Rebecca Rouse, Evan Barba
Voice: Brendan Padgett
Music: Oliver Jan

A Performative Vending Machine


Created in the DWIG (Digital World Image Group) project studio and presented as a proof-of-concept project for Digital Media Demo Day in May 2010, Showtime Vending playfully converts the space around a soda can vending machine into a street performance venue for both co-located and virtual audiences. Spectators vote on performances, which are videoed and streamed online, and determine if the performer had earned a free can of soda. 

To learn more, watch a video about the project here.

Experience Design: Michael Nitsche, Andrew Quitmeyer, Rebecca Rouse, Thomas Lodato, Vignesh Swaminathan, Andrew Roberts, Matthew Drake

Guerrilla media installation and performance 


What is the nature of the museum institution in contemporary society? Is there a place for digital art and interactive experience in the museum of today? Special interest group, The McKnight Center for the Arts, donated two non-destructive works of experimental digital art to The High Museum in Atlanta, GA in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Reflections on these installations were presented in a performance at the Blue Tower Arts Gallery in 2010. 



To learn more, see a clip from the performance here.


Experience Design: The McKnight Center for the Arts

Investigating audience opinions about liveness in theatrical performance


Designed to investigate theories about liveness written about by theorists such as Philip Auslander and Peggy Phelan, Club Verona re-imagines the fight scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as breakdance battles. With Montagues played by members of Georgia Tech's Break Dance club, TekStyles, and Capulets played by SecondLife avatars, the performance was presented to an audience at the Digital Media Demo Day in May 2009.

Experience Design: Jenifer Vandagriff, Jay David Bolter, Melissa Foulger, Rebecca Rouse
Performers: TekStyles, MC Matta Fact, Oliver Jan

A music video adaptation of the classic picture book by Crockett Johnson, "Harold and the Purple Crayon." With original music, lyrics, vocals and stop motion animation by Brendan Padgett, Kirk Quinsland, and Rebecca Rouse.

Watch the video here.

Translated, Written and Directed by Rebecca Rouse
Adapted from Georg Buechner
Music by Brendan Padgett
Choreography by Kyle Shepard









Created as a Master's thesis project at York University's AR Lab, under the supervision of Professor Caitlin Fisher,  Woyzeck is an interactive, immersive, augmented reality adaptation of Georg Buechner's classic German play from the 1820s. The installation included not only a unique use of AR technology supported by Georgia Tech's DART system, but also an original English language translation and adaptation of Woyzeck, along with original music, lyrics, and choreography. 


Watch a movie version of Woyzeck here.

Watch a documentary by Kirk Quinsland about the making of Woyzeck here. 

Listen to the soundtrack here.

Experience Design: Rebecca Rouse, Michelle Moon Lee
Music: Brendan Padgett
Choreography: Kyle Shepard

Written and Directed by Rebecca Rouse and Kyle Shepard
Music by Ben Kamber

Production Workshop
Brown University, Providence RI
2004

Directed by Rebecca Rouse
Written by Sophie Treadwell
Choreography by Kyle Shepard

Senior Slot Production
Leeds Theatre
Brown University, Providence RI
2004

*Winner of the 2004 Weston Award for Directing

Directed by Kathryne Jennings
Performed and Conceived by Rebecca Rouse
Accompanied by Eric Sedgwick

Grant Recital Hall
Brown University, Providence RI
2004

Directed by Michael Perlman
Music by Brendan Padgett
Lyrics and Book by Rebecca Rouse

Brownbrokers 
Stuart Theatre
Brown University, Providence RI
2003

Listen to the music here

Directed by Rebecca Rouse 
Written by Maria Irene Fornes

Production Workshop
Brown University, Providence RI
2002