highlike

David Bowen

PLANT BOT
plant bot is a time based interactive art installation where the fates of a living plant and a computer are interdependent. Essentially the plant attempts to train a computer using image recognition. Through this process the computer will learn to recognize when the plant needs water based on images it takes of the plant. If the plant appears healthy, the computer will maintain a regular water regiment. If the plant does not appear healthy to the computer it will attempt to aid the plant by adjusting to what it “thinks” the plant needs based on the images gathered. As the computer becomes more intelligent and hence more adept at caring for the plant, the plant will conceivably thrive and grow in proportion. If the computer is unsuccessful, conceivably the opposite will occur.

João Martinho Moura

WIDE/SIDE
WIDE/SIDE is an interactive installation in which shapes, images, and sounds are joined and interdependent. A visually engaging block, captivating in its monochromatic conception and minimalist lines, serves as a projection screen and teems with conglomerations of lines and shapes. As a result the installation is always changing and acquiring countless different forms.
The individual forms of the projections in reality are based on the surrounding environment, responding to the movements and gestures of the viewers. Visitors and passersby therefore themselves become part of the work and define its appearance.

Nao Tamura

Lexus Interconnection
There are forces in nature that are beyond the control of mankind. We have learned how fragile we are in the face of such forces. However, we have also learned the importance of accepting nature and learning to live in harmony with it. Interconnected and interdependent, there is a constant give-and-take in nature. Life does not rest. Our collective motion, nature’s response to our movements is essential to our planet’s delicate balance. When we are one with nature, we are at our most powerful. Our movement together gives us life. Our movement forward creates the next generation of ideas. Life is always more amazing in motion.

JAIME E OLIVER

Silent Percussion
File Festival
The “Silent Percussion Project” (SPP) consists in building a set of computer musical instruments that use human gestures to control sounds, composing and performing with them in an attempt to re-incorporate the body in music performance practice. The “SPP” is a response to the question: what kinds of musical instruments does live computer music performance need? To answer this question it researches the aesthetic qualities and language of non-live electronic music, action-perception systems and new media theory to experiment new ways of bridging between gesture and sound. In that sense, the “SPP” looks to address the problem of sound control by introducing new sensing techniques that take advantage of our sensorimotor capabilities. The Silent Drum and MANO instruments analyze shapes made by hands and transform them into multiple streams of continuous data. These streams, or variables, are directly applied to sound control, avoiding the key paradigm. Continuous data is analyzed to extract discrete features of the signals. The variables resulting from analysis are interdependent, that is, changes in one result in changes in the others, creating complex systems that the performer learns by experimentation.