Admire: Flat-e’s interactive set for Jamie Lidell’s You Naked

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65r_xN1eWeY]

Flat-e is an London-based interactive agency that created a truly unique and interactive set design for singer Jamie Lidell that projects procedural graphics on to four semi-transparent walls surrounding the singer. The visuals react not-only to the music, but also the tilt of the microphone stand and are generated in real-time using OpenFrameworks. This set was brought to his live performances as well.

The work is incredibly inspiring because of the tight integration with the movements of the singer and the music itself. Most visuals are simply pre-programmed video loops projected onto a large display behind the singer. This takes it into the 3rd dimension, making the music really feel tangible. The semi-transparent panels also provides several benefits; it reveals the singer and his body motions as well as maps the same visuals on to the singer, the cube walls, as well as the floor — adding to the illusion of depth.

Surprised: CLOUD

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/49748983]

CLOUD is a large interactive sculpture constructed from 6,000 light bulbs. The frame consists of hand-bent steel and new/used bulbs are wrapped around to form a shell.

What is surprising is how simple and under-appreciated the materials are. Light bulbs are things that we use every day and take for granted, but seldom think about how much energy they take or how we dispose of them. This project not only makes these simple objects a delight to see and interact with, but also brings awareness to the possibilities of “upcycling”. Prior to and after this project, the artists tapped into the local community to donate used bulbs. This inspired me to take a look at other ordinary objects to see what else could be made from them.

Disappointed: Inhibitf AdVan

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/81205331]

This piece consisted of a van with a large screen and a camera to display and track the actions of nearby pedestrians. Areas on the screen were interacted with by waving your hand in the indicated area in order to play a whimsical animation of a character being zapped of all of his hair.

While this is a novel idea, the implementation falls short. Although this was released only a month ago, the demo looks and feels as if it was done 8 years ago. The interactions are not directly mapped to any of the resulting consequences, making it feel more like a slideshow or a flash banner ad than an interactive experience. Finally, the piece doesn’t consider the context in which the display and camera are placed. It may have been much more interesting to see a view of people across the street, as if the screen was a magnifying glass. Users could then zap the hair off of random people and they would never know. Take for example Hand from Above from Chris O’Shea.