Author: zf534

囚：Midterm Progress#1 (Mars&Phyllis)

First Try

We placed particles on the contour that Kinect is detecting and draw lines in between to form an initial shape. Right now it visually does not look exactly like a bubble yet and we are still fixing it.

Second Try

To provide an alternative, we drew a vertex shape on the average point of the depth image that looks more like a wriggling bubble. To make it look more natural, we are thinking to get the position of joints from skeleton tracking and scale the bubble according to the size of the human body.

We are testing which option will provide a better visual effect.

Portrait: Interaction with Phone Tilt

First try

Tilt your phone and it will generate colorful circles on the screen.

Second Try

Tilt your phone and draw your real-time portrait.

Reflection

Initially, I wanted to use the finger’s touch on the phone screen as the interaction of this assignment, so that wherever you swipe on your phone, it will draw circles/your portrait in the relative position on the processing sketch. However, I find that there is a conflict in getting and sending data: my phone and the processing sketch are both sending message to the same port (12000, Wekinator) at the same time, so error occurred and my processing sketch cannot read multiple outputs at the same time. After trying and failing for many times, I decided to use the phone tilt as the interaction for this assignment, which is only sending one output to my sketch.

Final Performance Proposal: 囚/Imprison

Inspiration

Based on my experience of tracking and noting down daily emotions/word of the day, I’m surprised to see how many times I have doubted or even denied myself, for any reason, in so many different situations. These thoughts, these self-judgments, are shaping and constraining my mind, making me who I am. Among all the self-evaluation, the negative ones are actually blocking me from what I want to achieve. I value my every single feeling, thus I want to express them through this final project.

Concept Development

Those boundaries we build for ourselves are strongly rooted in our mind and influencing our lives. How does it feel when you really want to achieve something but your mind keeps telling you “no, you can’t”? What will you decide in the end? Give up, or give it a try?

We live, we struggle, we sometimes cannot get out of our mindset bubbles, we sometimes may not even be aware of all the above. In my final project, I want to visualize those negative mindsets/self-evaluation, showing how bad we are struggling and how hard it is to get rid of them. I want people to care more and be able to tell about their feelings, and eventually have a better understanding of themselves. What indeed is going on in my mind?

Toolkit

Kinect*1; Projector*1; Semi-transparent Fabric

How It Works

*Audience and the Performer are on different sides of the screen.

Performer trying to get out of the bubble, with small movements. Shape (human body outline) changes according to the performer’s movement.

There appears one opening on the bubble when the performer has bigger and more intense movements (may also consider a scream as a trigger). Once the opening appears, the negative thoughts/self-evaluation start to drop on the bubble and cover the opening.

Eventually, the performer won’t be able to get herself out of it.

Touch Surface with Kinect (Yufeng & Phyllis)

We taped a trapezoid shape on the table, set thresholds for x, y, and z-axis, calculated the average point of the three axis to mark the button area, and did a test: when the hand is detected within the 3D area range, the running sketch turns white.

Then we worked on the visuals — display a simple particle system while the hand is detected in that range (ps: we changed the detected area into a rectangle) — to make it more interactive. We used the point cloud library to display the depth image of the scene. The button area is marked and colored in red based on the average point of thresholds on x, y, and z-axis. When a hand appears in the button/box area, which means there are more particles appearing in the depth image, the button then is triggered, and people can generate colorful particles (moving upwards at a set velocity in the depth image) on the average point.

Code available here.

Reflection: Workshop with Kiori

Stay conscious. I consider this point the most beneficial for me from the workshop with Kiori. It’s really interesting and surprising to see the interrelationship between one’s mind and his body, between oneself and the surroundings, or among daily objects with one’s full awareness. In the context of this workshop, I find the significant role consciousness is playing in not only one’s own body movements but also one’s sensation of the environment.

Continue reading “Reflection: Workshop with Kiori”

Response 2: Interactivity in an Embodied Dialogue

“A Critical Framework for Interactive Art” basically introduces what the implicit body framework is and its four areas of examination, in which Nathaniel Stern maintains that the latter two areas, “inter-activity” and “relationality” of the four, “enhance understandings of interactive art and embodiment” (95). Stern claims that “they reveal the performative, real-world implications of what we [do/how we act] affects the installation” (95). Reflecting on our trip to the Rain Room, we were first introduced the concept of the installation and how it works before we entered, through which we got a preassumption about what the interaction might be like. When we entered the installation, according to Stern, we actually encountered the third and fourth area of the implicit body framework — interacting with the installation. As we were approaching the installation, I as a user felt really scared of getting wet in the “rain,” because it is what will happen in real life! Interactive installations can actually put people into situations where they feel intervened or even constrained by the artwork. For instance, the idea that people perceive from the artwork might be completely different from/the opposite to how they think (how things work) in real life. Meanwhile, people can also form new understandings of simple facts from their various interaction with installations. As Stern puts it in the book, the implicit body framework “invites us into our own potential to vary by means of how we interrelate, and then rehearse in the interval” (96). People are able to adjust themselves in a specific scenario set by artists and make themselves feel comfortable within the constraint through inter-activity.