Ipswich Art Gallery’s exhibition of Experimenta: Vanishing Point allowed for personal physical interaction with some of the art on display. Many of the installations were really interesting and one could either enjoy the art for arts sake, or try to interpret the concepts the artist was portraying or try to understand how the technology worked. As this semester Comp 3000 group assignment is to design an interactive installation that potentially may be exhibited at Ipswich Art Gallery, this provided a wonderful opportunity.
The artwork I have chosen to compare with our own project and which worked well with our original concept using the “Dance Floor” ideas was a projected image, which was triggered by utilising sensors. ‘Waterfall’ (“Duk-eum” by Ji-Hoon Byun, Korea, 2003 [4]) is an interactive work that provided enjoyment by allowing the visitors to interact in their own way. A waterfall of light particles flows over the projected image of the users body shape. The visitor walks between the projected image on the wall and the projector casting a shadow on the wall. A web cam detects the change in the reading from the camera, and transfers the information to a program. The program interprets the movements of the users in front of the camera and creates the illusion of water bouncing off the shadow. The sense of enjoyment of this piece, due to the interaction is something we would like to create in our own ubiquitous installation.

Ji-Hoon Byun’s Duk-eum [4]
The installation allows the user the freedom of choice of how they move, causing the interaction. The technology system that detects the user interaction is obvious to participants, which may detract from the ubiquitous nature of the art, but is overcome with the playful nature of the piece. The Waterfall piece also allows for multiple users to interact with the project.

Interaction Technologies
A web cam (or video camera) detects motion (someone walking) between the camera and the projected image on the wall. The information is obtained and transferred to the computer application that is generating the particle waterfall. The particles are them manipulated based on the motion detected. This projected waterfall can be created using different technologies: blob and edge detection [1], frame differentiation [2], and hotspots with triggers [3] to name a few, could be used to activate the software projecting the image.
Constraints and Considerations of Waterfall Installation
Visitors may walk in from any direction.
Multiple visitors may use Waterfall at the same time.
Needs to be away from a main walkway, as this would detract from the experience.
Power must be available.
Power supply must be tapped to the floor (safety) and not be intrusive.
Lighting must be dim to allow for intensity of projection and shadow creation.
Space is required for the distance of projection, allowing for suitable size.
A wall is needed that is suitable for projection, and free from other art works.
Increased sound volume would enhance the experience but may disrupt other exhibits.
Other Installations
Other installations or proposed installations that were investigated using a waterfall theme were: an interactive installation housed in a childrens medical centre [5], Giant Waterfall which is proposed to display on the outside wall of a multi-storey building [6] and a Trophy Waterfall, which uses audio to portray the waterfall experience [7].
Two other artworks from the exhibit that were also of special interest to our project were the “Shy Picture” [8] and “Tools of Life “ [9]. Both of these were ubiquitous in nature, allowing for the user interactive technologies to be less distractive than the camera system used in “Waterfall”. As the group researches more interactive art our own design for the installation changes and evolves.
COMPARED WITH OUR PROJECT
Ubiquitous art is allowing for new forms of creativity in an artistic sense, as discussed in the paper ‘Networking with knobs and knats? Towards ubiquitous computing for artists’ [10], which gives rise to ‘unique design considerations’. Both ‘Waterfall’ and Dance Floor Groups design fall into the area of Ubiquitous Art. However our design was originally to detect motion and respond with an output of projected imagery onto a wall, not unlike ‘Waterfall’ in concept. The constraints of floor area required to exhibit an artwork such as this, in an area not used as a main walkway where the possibility of too many people accessing the restrooms in Ipswich Art Gallery has made us reconsider our output projection.
‘Shy Picture’, another exhibit used a monitor as a framed artwork, alleviating the need for space and the possibility of too many visitors to the gallery accessing the toilets and disrupting the experience of the user or users. David, another group member, is discussing ‘Shy Picture’.
As discussed previously the design and concepts are evolving with researching other artworks. We would like to extend the experience without loosing the simplicity of the artwork in the way the user would interact with it.
Our original design consideration was to trigger an interaction, which could be displayed on two separate walls. The concept behind this was that one user would be aware that they had triggered the interaction, while anyone observing the other projection would be unable to realise the reason for the artworks triggered display.
However having experienced Experimenta the design and direction of our project has changed. Our design changed to using a computer screen within a frame, giving the illusion of animated art. To extend this experience, at our last group meeting, a decision to use two monitors as separate framed artworks, side by side with a small space between. Our animation is based on a small dog cartoon figure that interacts with people viewing the artwork. The dog will be able to move between the two picture framed monitors. Mans best friend often seems to be used, as the western cultures association with pets, specifically dogs, will lend itself to the possibility of either a child or adult exhibit.
Our ideas for the animation are, to have a sleeping dog in the corner of one monitor, and on detection of motion; the dog would wake up and wag his tail, imitating a real dog. The dog may bark at times if people start to move away. There will be a ball on screen, which the dog will keep looking at, and return his look to a viewer trying to entice the viewer to touch the screen where the ball is positioned. If motion is detected in that area and a viewer has been tempted to see what happens if they follow the visual clues, the ball will appear to be thrown onto the other screen, and the dog will chase after it and return the ball to the original screen and drop it where it came from. The dog will return to sleeping position if there is no motion detected after a given amount of time.
Our research into how the artists had achieved their work on exhibit, lead us to more examples of how interactive art is being used. One example, processing.org [11] has a showcase of examples of ubitiquitous computing and with a little more research we have found a possible way to replicate ‘Waterfall’ using Processing and jMyron [12].
Constraints and Comparisons of Waterfall and Dance Groups design.
-Visitors may walk in from any direction for Waterfall and our Dog.
-Multiple visitors may use Waterfall at the same time, however multiple people may view our Dog but once an interaction is triggered it will play to the end unless there is a trigger within a sequence of the movie that is displayed at the time.
-‘Waterfall’ needs to be away from a main walkway, as this would detract from the experience, ours however needs the camera or web cam to point at a smaller and controlled space, but still out of the main traffic area or the gallery may have a dog barking continuously.
-Power must be available for both.
-Power supply must be tapped to the floor (safety) and not be intrusive for both. Dance Floor Groups design requires that a web cam or camera be mounted well above the artwork so as not to be intrusive but allow for motion detection.
-Lighting must be dim to allow for intensity of projection and shadow creation for Waterfall, ours does not require any special lighting requirements. (The sensitivity for lighting can be controlled so as not to have to consider the flickering of florescent lighting.) However it would be better to ensure that there was no problems with reflections on the monitor screens.
-Space is required for the distance of projection, allowing for suitable size for Waterfall, this is no longer a consideration for our design.
-A wall that is suitable for projection, and free from other art works, does not hinder us with the revised design.
-Increased sound volume would enhance the experience but may disrupt other exhibits, applies to both Waterfall and ours.
Dance Floors Groups ‘Dog’ and ‘Waterfall’ are both examples of ubiquitous art, and we will adapt a user centred design approach and evaluation of our design as an iterative step before the design is finalised. Both designs are simple in nature, and allow the user to interact with the artwork, both aim at giving simple pleasure to the users or viewers of the artworks. Both use motion detection and similar technologies, regardless if the output is projected or on a monitor replicating a painting, both cater for any age, and both should produce a smile with the interaction.
References:
[1] Town C., Pugh. D. (2007). ACTA Press. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from [Abstract] Combining Contour, Edge & Blob Tracking: www.actapress.com/PaperInfo.aspx?PaperID=18828
[2] Koc, U.-V., & Ray Liu, K. (1994, 11 13). IEEE Xplore. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Login: www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?tp=&arnumber=413784&isnumber=9214
[3] Omega Unfold. (2007, 04 09). Webcam Zone Trigger. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Omega Unfold: /www.zonetrigger.com/index.html
[4] Presit, G. (2004, 01). Realtime. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Realtime Arts: www.realtimearts.net/feature/MAAP_in_Singapore:_GRAVITY/8506
[5] Forman C. (2005, 10 16). Media Artist. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Setpixel // Interactive Waterfall: www.setpixel.com/content/?ID=waterfall
[6] Knutt E. (2006, 11 03). Moving Buildings become a reality with telemetrics. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Building Design: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storyType=80§ioncode=453&storyCode=3076661
[7] Youngs A. (2005, 09 10). Amy Young. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Interactive Sculputers, Installations & New Media Art Work: www.ylem.org/artists/ayoungs/trophy.html
[8] Shy Picture, David Maclend and Narinda Reeders, Australia, 2005
[9] Tools Life, Minim ++, Japan, 2001
[10] Burke J., Mendelowitz E., Kim J., Lorenzo R. (2002, 08 18). BurkeUCLA. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from ubicomp2002.pdf (application/PDF objext): www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/dixa/conf/ubicomp2002-models/pdf/BurkeUCLA_ubicomp2002.pdf
[11] Rease C., Fry B. (2007). Exhibition. Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Processing: www.processing.org
[12] Myron (WebCamXtra). (n.d.). Retrieved 04 26, 2007, from Computer vision & Well Connected Motion Tracking: www.webcamxtra.sourceforge.net



