casher-LookingOutwards04

Physical Telepresence is a project by MIT's Tangible Media group from 2014. A Kinect is hung above one platform and captures a bird's eye view of various hand movements made by the user, and the program transforms that data into a physical and almost graphical representation of your hands, creating an accurate "topography" of the distance between your hands and the platform with white pegs. I am interested in this project because I actually got to experience it when I went to the MIT Media Lab's 30th Anniversary celebration (both of my parents went to the Media Lab for grad school). At the time I didn't know I would become so excited about these kinds of works, and that it was considered art! I think the design of Telepresence is especially well done -- it has a really nice aspect of simplicity. This is the kind of work I aspire to make as an artist -- I really appreciate how that with a good eye and by using sensors, you can take natural, fluid aspects of the world and visualize it in a totally nuanced way. And the interactive component is inspiring as well. I love creating art that allows the viewer/user to have a personal experience with it, as it allows them to think deeper about the meaning of the piece. I am excited to see what kinds of visualization this leads to.