Polifemicos
In Polifemicos, the users enter in and walk over a video projection, where the system track their movement and responds by opening a ‘video wound’ on a chair where some videos are played. These are composed by medical footage of cameras exploring body cavities.
It was made in Colombia as a part of the project Mi(OP)tologies between 2004 and 2005, a theorical research project that supports the possibility of producing a series of artistic experiments using digital media. The Idea comes from the interest in the development of ways of visualizing flows of surveillance information, in a metaphoric relationship with physicality, electronic delirium and the creation of contemporary myths. Polifemicos, an interactive installation programmed in Lingo and presented in the Colon Theater of Bogota/Colombia, is the first outcome of the series of productions that would complement and feed the evolution of the research process.
Technical description
Developed in Macromedia director, the application tracks the location of users who walk inside the square shaped by the projection on the floor, around a chair at the center of it. The location and rhythm of the movements triggers and controls the play of the video on top of the chair.
For the prototype, we have just a webcam tracking the average movement at each space by means of a basic glob tracking algorithm implemented in the processing environment The data captured is used locally and sent to a remote client, and, in both sides, a simple Linden-Mayer algorithm is used to draw a set of plants an control their behavior, which is affected by the data being captured in both spaces under surveillance. In future versions we aim to implement the use of microphones, light sensors and temperature sensors.
Required equipment.
1 PC / Mac (Intel core)
1 camera
1 beamer
mobile phones (2 or more)