EMPAC—The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is where the arts, sciences, and technology meet under one roof and breathe the same air. Four exceptional venues enable audiences, artists, and researchers to inquire, experiment, develop, and experience the ever-changing relationship between our senses, technology, and the worlds we create around us. EMPAC is an icon of the New Polytechnic, a new paradigm for cross-disciplinary research and education at Rensselaer.
Designed by London-based Grimshaw Architects, EMPAC opened in fall 2008. The 220,000-square foot building includes many firsts in the fields of acoustics, performing arts infrastructure, and architectural engineering. The integration of these features with audio, video, lighting, computer, and stage rigging networks make EMPAC an ideal environment for human interaction with digital media. Both a performing arts center and research and production facility, EMPAC provides an environment that supports the realization of complex artworks and research projects at any stage, from inception to completion.
The same venues and tools that make EMPAC a leading-edge performance space also make it an exceptional laboratory for research at the interface between digital technology and human experience. Recent areas of inquiry include advanced visualization, acoustics, sensor design, lighting design, haptics, social interaction, and immersive environments, among others.
EMPAC provides researchers across Rensselaer’s five schools with a powerful tool in the quest to better understand human sensory experience, communication, and interaction with computing systems.