MAJ: Looking Outwards #7

Admiration: Puppet Parade

Puppet Parade, by Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson of Design I/O, is an interactive instillation that uses arm motions to puppeteer giant projected creatures. This project uses openFrameworks 007, an infra-red camera, and two Kinects to track motions and translate them into visuals. Puppet Parade was featured at the 2011 Cinekid festival.

I enjoy the bright, gaudy-yet-simplistic visuals that characterize Puppet Parade. I’m particularly impressed with how simple hand-motions create such a complex environment, and would be interested to see the process of fine-tuning the projected outputs of these simple inputs.

For more info on Puppet Parade, click here. For more info on Design I/O, click here. For more on Cinekid, click here.

Surprise: The Treachery of Sanctuary

The Treachery of Sanctuary, conceived and directed by Chris Milk, is an interactive triptych depicting inspired by the cave drawings on the walls of Lascaux. From left to right, each screen represents birth, death, and regeneration. Infra-red sensors and Kinect cameras are used to sense participants. The Treachery of Sanctuary made its debut at The Creators Project: San Francisco 2012.

I’m impressed by the visual effects The Treachery of Sanctuary utilizes. The fluidity of the bird’s wings is quite striking, and I imagine how harrowing it must feel to become the subject of such projections.

For more on The Treachery of Sanctuary, click here. For more on Chris Milk, click here. For more on The Creators Project, click here.

What Could Have Been: Bird on a Wire

Bird on a Wire was created by Ben Light, Christie Leece, Inessah Selditz, and Matt Richardson, for a Master’s course at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). The birds animate when a specific phone-number is called.

I like the playful interaction Bird on a Wire has the potential to inspire, but I do have a nitpick: the flight of the birds is not fluid. I think more variation regarding the birds’ flight paths and animations would give this instillation the finishing touch it needs, although I understand such an addition is not critical to the success of the project itself.

For more on Bird on a Wire, click here. For more on Ben Light, click here.  For more on Christie Leece, click here. For more on Inessah Selditz, click here. For more on Matt Richardson, click here.

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