Aliot-LookingOutwards04
The Manual Input Workstation (2004-2006: Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman)
Yes, I realize that writing about Golan’s work is maybe not the most productive thing in this class but this piece was super cool!
Basically this is a system which uses two kinds of projection (digital and analog) and computer vision to recognize hands. The shadow produced by hands in the projection are identified by the computer vision software and shapes are created using both the negative space and the actual form of the hand. The user can interact with and play with forms made from light. The light takes on a material property as you can see it bounce and you can control it’s movements.
I loved this project because it’s so tangible in borderline-sculptural way. Many digital interactions are abstracted beyond the point of intuition or too simple to be entertaining for very long. This seems like it would be endlessly amusing because there are so many infinite shapes that hands are capable of making and the animations are so physical. The only thing that seemed a little off was how bouncy the shapes were, it could have been intentional or just a limitation of the technology.
