Interactive installation setup

The second of my final year University projects will explore elements of interaction with nature through technological means. The aim is to encourage people to collectively interact with nature, collaborating to create an audio/visual performance within the space.The concept of my photographic novel is to explore alienation within the use of personal technology. Individualism, obsession and dependency on technology are issues explored through the character’s journey; concepts of community and co-operation are omitted to create an environment driven by personal obsession with technology. Alternately, my interactive installation highlights the importance of inter-communal interaction with Nature by creating an environmental performance that grows with co-operative interaction. It makes technology, and the environment created rely on the audience’s interaction with Nature. The hidden technological interface relies upon the audience’s communal participation with the Natural interface to create an all encompassing performance space.

Installation Layout

In the above diagram you can see that the layout of the installation from a birds eye view. A camera and projector is installed in the ceiling pointing down on the space. The concentric circles represent different elements of the performance space. When collectively interacted with they make up a whole audio/visual performance.

The dashed lines represent space that is not visually determined by any structural elements; they are areas of the space where participant presence is detected, and visuals are projected onto these areas of the space due to the participant’s presence.

The green circle in the very middle are trees. The trees will be approx. 2 meters high and arranged in a circle. The circumference of the group of trees will be just wide enough so that a single person cannot touch every part whilst standing in one position. The trees are the brightest element on entrance to the room.

The dashed sections that surround each yellow circle are initially dimly lit in comparison to the trees. These sections are used for participant detection.

The dashed sections that surround each purple star are initially unlit. These sections are used for visual projection.

The red squares are points on the tree that are  used as trigger points in the software, seen only by the camera. They will be able to detect whether a participant has touched that particular part of the tree.

Layout Concepts

image from flickr user turtlemoon

The circular setup of the work is intended to draw on elements of spirituality and community.

Like drumming circles where people face a common point and drum, my installation will require people to work together to create a holistic, explorative experience with the visual and sounds they create.

The lone participant will be able to create sound and visuals on their own, but the experience will be restricted; I will be making the setup of the installation space and software events reacting to the movement within the space reflect this.

The central message in this setup will be that we rely upon one another and nature to create a fulfilling experiences. The elements of technology will become dependent on these relationships built within the space. If there is no interaction with the trees in the middle of the room then nothing will happen at all; if people do not interact with the space as a collective then there will be elements of the experience, driven by the technology, that will never be given life.

In this space I want to emphasise the importance of physical interaction with Nature and People, making the technology, and ultimately the experience of the space dependent on those elements. This is the alternate exploration to my theme of exploring the importance of physical interaction in a technologically saturated world.