A tool for exploring extrasensory perception
Interactive installation by Ulrika Sparre (2007). Produced at the Interactive Institute with Sparre as Artist in Residence. Programming and interface design by Fredrik Bridell.
Mental Radio contains an archive of drawings. The viewer is invited to try to guess the current drawing, hidden from view, and try to make a similar drawing.
Interactive mixed reality game by Animaatiokone Industries.
Kick Ass Kung-Fu is a mixed reality fighting game. You perform your real martial-arts type moves in front of a camera. On screen you see both yourself and your virtual opponents. Fight!
I’m particularly impressed by the way they managed to mix physical motion with game-like physics on screen (super high jumps, super fast moves, etc). It’s also really liberating to do this sort of gaming without having to strap on any type of sensors, glasses or other gadgets, and at the same time allow you to use any physical object as a weapon. There are some videos on the site below showing all the nifty features.
Further reading:
Interactive installation by Jeffrey Shaw. In 1989-1991 he made three versions of three cities (Manhattan, Amsterdam, Karlsruhe)
In Legible City the visitor is seated on a stationary training bicycle in front of a 3d “city” comprised entirely of text. Using the pedals and handle of the bike the visitor can navigate the (virtual) city. There are also different audio clips that get played if the visitor follows certain tracks - a narrative dimension to this piece that seems to have been largely forgotten by the impact of the mixed (virtual/physical) reality interface.
Further reading
Interactive audio installation by Marnix de Nijs and Edwin van der Heide
A large loudspeaker is mounted on a motorized arm. The arm rotates at varying speeds, up to 100 km/h. An ultrasonic distance sensor is mounted on the speaker, reading the distance to the nearest object (visitor!). As the arm rotates it is keeping track of the angle and distance to update a map and responds to changes - this is how it interacts with people. It can do different things, such as “stop and look” at approaching visitors, making different sounds when it’s doing different things.
I saw this piece at Ars Electronica in 2001 and really liked it. It’s one of those pieces that you really need to see in real life - a very visceral experience. The interaction also manages to hit that sweet spot between the boringly predictable and the boringly random, giving you the feeling that there is some alien intelligence at work here.
Further reading:
Structured tagging:
Interactive kinetic sculpture by Greyworld (2007)
This huge piece, installed inside a 10-story atrium, has a number of artificial flowers that open and close in response to people moving through the space. The flowers also open up in response to the sunlight.
Further reading
Structured tagging: kinetic, interactive, large-scale
Compete in doing nothing
Interactive art piece conceived and produced by all members of the Interactive Institute Smart Studio (1999)
Brainball is a game where you win by relaxing. Two players, sitting on opposite sides of the table, are equipped with EEG headbands that monitor brain activity. The game examines the players’ brainwaves to determine which one is more relaxed. If you are more relaxed, the ball on the table moves towards the opponent, and you win when the ball reaches the goal circle on the opponent’s side. Brainball has been shown in art exhibitions and other shows all around the world, and a number of tables have been sold to science centers and other venues. The original Brainball was made by the Smart studio (where I was part of the original concept development and did parts of the programming of the original prototype). In 2003 a commercial version called Mindball was introduced. Brainball was awarded an honorary mention in the Interactive Arts category at Ars Electronica (2001).
Photo: Technicus / Mathias Lindqvist.