NymphoBrainiac
Equilibrium The Human Mashup: A Follow Up
Equilibrium, the Human Mashup. The show's goal was to ask "How can art and technology and the synergy of the two address humanity's next evolutionary step?". Being a staunch singularitarian this was right up, or is it down, my proverbial alley. I built an application that allows a user to take a self portrait photograph and then draw themselves on a wall simply by using and moving their hand. The premise was to use the human as the sole interface to draw themselves, exploring the convergence of man and technology. A one day only installation, I didn't have to high of hopes for it's exposure. On the flip side, this being my first showing ever I was like a greedy 8 year old on Christmas morning, and extremely anxious to see how people would interact and respond to the installation. The methodology of controlling an interface without the normal peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, kiosk, or otherwise was foreign to all that attended. What transpired blew me away. The attendance, response and exposure far exceeded my hopes. I barely had to explain at all to users how to run the application. People just stepped right up to the installation and began to interact with it. They were actually learning on their own while performing the drawing. People were actually converging with the technology. Furthermore, those that were done performing their drawing became evangelists, telling those who followed them their idea of how best to use the application. At that moment it became cemented in my mind that I had succeeded in my experiment. People had invested themselves in the piece to the point of bringing out their own inner artist. Several times I stepped in to 'coach' people on how to get the most out of the motion detection while drawing their portrait. The response I got was unexpected. People took personal offense that I was pushing my artistic ideas on their own drawing. Again, success. I was also sent to the floor several times by attendees who said they had come to the event specifically to see my work which they had been following online. There were even several people who mentioned that they had hooked my work up to projectors at parties they were holding. Wha?! Seriously, amazed.
I'd like to thank several people for the night. Steve Benoit for all his help with testing the application, videography and film editing of the event. The result is the shweet movie posted above. Rachel Kjack and Adrienne Fritze from SAO and Working Artists Online respectively for their organization and inviting me to submit my work. All that attended, I met some inspirational folk. And finally, my wife Lisa for her unending support and diggin' me even when I have late night dreaded 'code eyes'.
Looking forward to the next event.
Related:
the online version of the installation
Equilibrium The Human Mashup: A Follow Up
Equilibrium, the Human Mashup. The show's goal was to ask "How can art and technology and the synergy of the two address humanity's next evolutionary step?". Being a staunch singularitarian this was right up, or is it down, my proverbial alley. I built an application that allows a user to take a self portrait photograph and then draw themselves on a wall simply by using and moving their hand. The premise was to use the human as the sole interface to draw themselves, exploring the convergence of man and technology. A one day only installation, I didn't have to high of hopes for it's exposure. On the flip side, this being my first showing ever I was like a greedy 8 year old on Christmas morning, and extremely anxious to see how people would interact and respond to the installation. The methodology of controlling an interface without the normal peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, kiosk, or otherwise was foreign to all that attended. What transpired blew me away. The attendance, response and exposure far exceeded my hopes. I barely had to explain at all to users how to run the application. People just stepped right up to the installation and began to interact with it. They were actually learning on their own while performing the drawing. People were actually converging with the technology. Furthermore, those that were done performing their drawing became evangelists, telling those who followed them their idea of how best to use the application. At that moment it became cemented in my mind that I had succeeded in my experiment. People had invested themselves in the piece to the point of bringing out their own inner artist. Several times I stepped in to 'coach' people on how to get the most out of the motion detection while drawing their portrait. The response I got was unexpected. People took personal offense that I was pushing my artistic ideas on their own drawing. Again, success. I was also sent to the floor several times by attendees who said they had come to the event specifically to see my work which they had been following online. There were even several people who mentioned that they had hooked my work up to projectors at parties they were holding. Wha?! Seriously, amazed.
I'd like to thank several people for the night. Steve Benoit for all his help with testing the application, videography and film editing of the event. The result is the shweet movie posted above. Rachel Kjack and Adrienne Fritze from SAO and Working Artists Online respectively for their organization and inviting me to submit my work. All that attended, I met some inspirational folk. And finally, my wife Lisa for her unending support and diggin' me even when I have late night dreaded 'code eyes'.
Looking forward to the next event.
Related:
the online version of the installation