1. Weave Silk

Weave Silk is a drawing tool that generates curves based on mouse or finger movement.  It is definitely an interesting tool and has a nicely crafted interface.  The interaction is also very satisfying; the user is able to create beautifully generated images with a few movements.  The tool does seem a bit limiting though; it feels like I want to have more control over the movements, especially because there is an inherent symmetry to the curves you can create.

2. Tree Drawings by Tim Knowles 

This project is not digital but it is definitely generative and I found it extremely interesting.  The artist   created a series of drawings by attaching pens to the branches of different trees and allowing wind and other natural factors to generate forms on canvases.  As such, through the generation of this images, the artist is also recording and visualizing information about each tree, the environment they exist in and the time of year when these drawings were made.

3. L-Systems in Architecture by Michael Hansmeyer

For this project, Computational Architect Michael Hansmeyer designs a piece of architecture using L-Systems.  I am intrigued by this idea of using L-Systems for different artist applications outside of the realm of modeling plant growth (my friend and I have been working on a project that also explores this idea).  The artist’s project statement describes the project in context to seeing what is possible.  I would be interested in further hearing his thoughts as to where such a building would work conceptually and how creating such buildings using L-Systems begin to inform both conceptually and functional spaces within.

4. H_Edge by Cecil Balmond

H_Edge is an exhibition by Cecil Balmond that I had the fortune of helping to install in the Carnegie Museum a few years ago. It is a amazing structure that consists of chains and metal ‘H’s that is help up by the tension between its components.  It is not quite a generative project, as I believe the spaces created are planned out, at least to an extent, but the structure definitely strikes the observer as generative.  Moving through the exhibit, new spaces are formed due to the reflectivity of the materials and the interactions between the structure’s elements.

1. Augmented Shadow

I’m not sure what state this project is in but I find it very interesting.  It plays on the idea of a shadow using Augmented Reality by allowing the using to move around blocks to explore the mysterious shadow world that exists.  Personally I find the concepts of playing with shadows really intriguing and I think this is a really interesting play that could cause emergent storylines that are all dependent on the interaction of the user.  In this way, it also reminds me of an idea I had for an app that would allow the user to explore a story independent of a chronological storyline.

2.  Light Form by Mathieu Rivier

This is an interactive project that allows the user to affect a surface through touch.  The physical shape of the sculpture does not actually change but rather the shapes projected on the surface do.  I think the real “magic” of the piece is not so much in the interaction but rather in the 3-dimensionality that emerges through the interaction.

3. OKO – Interactive Journey Through NASA Image Database by Jeremie Forge, Pierre Rossel, and Nadezda Suvorova

This project is an iPad app that allows the user to explore images from NASA’s database by turning them into interactive puzzles.  I like the concept of this project because it exposes these beautiful images to the public on a mass scale.  I’m unsure about how I feel regarding the design of the puzzles; some are more successful than others.

4. Snail Space by David Hockney

This is one of my favorite pieces, located in the American Museum of Modern Art in Washington, D.C. It is not technically interactive in the sense that it cannot be experienced tangibly, but it definitely creates a experience that goes beyond the visual.  The exhibit consists of a mural that extents from the wall onto the floor and slowly changing lighting that turns the painting into a three-dimensional space that is constantly evolving.

When I sat down to browse the internet for this blog post I happened to be surrounded by five or six people currently knee-deep in designing a tabletop game. Everyone had done a lot of research into games and other interactive experiences–thus, after searching the internet for a bit, I asked them for some of their favorite interactive projects. After all, research can be done in a lot of different ways, right? I got a lot of good suggestions, and so in addition to one project that I found myself I will include my favorites of those that they suggested.

ANOMALY INTERACTIVE BOOK APP
http://www.experienceanomaly.com/
http://allthingsd.com/20130223/heres-what-happens-when-you-combine-a-comic-book-an-ipad-and-augmented-reality/?mod=atd_su/

This book is an incredibly cool concept–the graphic novel Anomaly is a beautifully illustrated book that comes with a table app. When the user aims the tablet at the book, characters and scenes jump to life, becoming interactive elements that the user can play with and learn extra information from. I love the idea of gleaning more hidden information from a complex medium–with the addition of the app, the book moves from illustrated story to in-depth guide to this world that the artists have built.

While a very cool idea, the execution is still a little clunky. The 3D visuals sometimes break the immersion in their occasional dips into uncanny valley, for example, and the disconnect between book and tablet is unavoidable. That being said, it’s a cool and reasonably polished application to a relatively new technology. The company is already well into their second book, so I anticipate that their company will continue pushing the envelope on this technology for a while.

JOURNEY
http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/

When I asked my friends about interactive art pieces, they told me to look up Journey. In fact, they said, we have it here; you should sit down and play. So I did. It was the most gorgeous video game that I’ve ever played. It was beautiful in every area–visual design, gameplay, plot, music, and length. It follows a hooded, nameless, voiceless character in their journey to the top of a mountain. Along the way they discover a lost, sunken city covered in sand in which strange flying red cloth creatures flock like birds and sea creatures.

I spent two hours playing this game and was entertained throughout. Not only that, but through the discussion I got a lot of good information about interactivity and game design from talking to my friends. For instance, the game will pair you with another person on the internet who is playing the game and the two of you traverse the mountain together for a time. You never talk to or message this person–you are both simply pilgrims on a journey. It’s an incredibly elegant way of playing a game with another person without breaking the illusion. Rather than laughing and joking with another person, you’ve just gained a companion for a time. It was a lovely touch to an already fantastic game.

INGRESS
http://www.ingress.com/

Like Anomaly, Ingress is a cool interactive piece that is among the first of its kind. Ingress is a multiplayer augmented reality game by Google that lets all of the users interact with works of art all over the world to stop an unnamed invasion force. As more players work together to unlock a particular area, the game works against the group as a whole to take over the city or town in question.

As this is an Android app and I have an iPhone, I didn’t get a chance to playtest this game. I love the idea, though. It’s a lot of fun to play games with a large community of people–Ingress takes the next step and brings the game to the players’ day-to-day environment. It’s real-time and hits a little closer to home in its targeting of recognizable works of art. I hope that soon I will get a chance to play it. If not, though, I’m sure that there will soon be more games of a similar nature that more closely links the game to our everyday lives.

Wooden Mirror – Daniel Rozin

I wouldn’t be surprised if other people use this as well, but it’s still an example of interactive art that I remain deeply impressed by.  Technically, the complexity of doing image processing and controlling 830 servos nearly a decade and a half ago is enough to be cool by itself.  From an artistic perspective, I like his reinterpretation of the mirror using materials with completely different reflective properties (Lambertian rather than specular, like glass).  I think the sound of the physical moving parts adds another interesting dimension as well, as it conveys auditory information that corresponds to the motion of the subject.  As an artifact, the mirror lends itself to exploration and discovery, as its initial function may not be entirely clear.  I imagine that its behavior is also somewhat specific to the installation environment and local lighting conditions, which I believe enhances its charm rather than detracts from it as is common with many projects incorporating computer vision.

Chatroulette and Omegle

I think both of these websites are interesting in that they connect (in all likelihood) complete strangers and give them free reign to either A) hold intelligent conversations, B) be jerks, or C) show their junk off.  Usually it ends up being either B or C.  In any case, I think the collective behavior reveals something about human nature with respect to anonymity and our interactions with each other through the screen.  This can be found elsewhere, like in Youtube comments, but those interactions are still centered around something else like a video or article, and they happen in clusters.  Omegle appears to have changed to be more like Chatroulette, but I think it was more interesting when it was text-only.  I think a more specific and analog question is “How does the level of anonymity (acquaintance, video, voice, text) change a person’s interaction with another?”

My favorite Chatroulette experiment happened in undergrad when we filled an auditorium with 100 people and greeted strangers over video.  A lot of people were genuinely pleased and would talk with us for some time.  Others would hurry to cover themselves up in embarrassment.

Journey – thatgamecompany

It’s a video game, but not Minecraft, surprisingly.  I haven’t played this myself, but I find the concept delightful.  The gamer plays as a robed pilgrim on a quest to a distant but visible mountain.  The game can be played completely by oneself, and the journey is relatively short, but there is a twist.  At various points in the game, the player will encounter other pilgrims who may cooperate with them to solve puzzles and point out interesting places that might have otherwise been overlooked.  These travelers are actually other humans who are playing the game at the same time, but they are chosen at random and retain their anonymity.  The only means of communication are through auditory cues and physical gestures, so there are no indicators of age, gender, real location, etc.  In a sense, this is an extreme that even Omegle doesn’t reach, yet the results are almost universally more positive.  The game has won lots of accolades for its uniqueness, though I imagine this is something that does not have much room for improvement in the future.