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Salmon
"Walk on Salmon" is a simple experiential piece that illustrates the schooling behavior of fish, created for a salmon hatchery museum in Norway.
As the participant enters the stage, the fish quickly move away, forming sinuous ribbons that wrap around the moving participants.
Various water effects create an illusion of depth.
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Sand
A stream of liquid sand flows from above and reacts with your shadow as if
it were solid. Its hypnotic motion conjures childhood feelings of playing
with water or building wet sandcastles.
Like making shadow puppets, you can easily construct concave structures with your
hands to catch the sand and then you can pour it from hand to hand or maybe
into your friend's mouth.
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Mariposa
A swarm of butterflies circles as if
looking for something. When your shadow enters nothing appears to happen at
first; eventually, if you remain very still,
you gain their trust and they
begin to land on your hand or shoulder to rest. If you make a sudden
movement they will scatter as even the slightest twitch sends them into
a panic.
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Marble Marshal
Can you marshal the group of red and blue marbles into two distinct
groups? It's harder than it looks because the marbles tend to stick
together. You'll probably have to use your whole body and have some
help. Before long it might seem like you are playing a game of
twister. Even if you don't want to play the game, you might end up
transfixed by the beautiful marbles.
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Mercury Bubbles
with Brain Sharp
An impossible fluid reacts to your shadow forming long
polymer chains and loops. Although exotic, the action of the
bubbles is surprisingly intuitive. Connect the chains to the color
generators and brilliant colors emerge from diffusion. Want a challenge? Try
building concentric rings like this:
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Dragonfly
A swarm of dragonflies playfully interacts with the participant's shadow.
When left alone, they seek out the cracks in the wall and await for the fun
to return.
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Moderation
This work draws its inspiration from
Princess Mononoke
by the legendary anime director
Hayao Miyazaki
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Participants step through a shallow
stream and their presence triggers a
magical flowering of life. They must tread with care though, for as the title
implies, over aggressive demands on the environment have unintended
consequences.
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Elevator Goblins
A swarm of fire goblins lives underneath the "in case of fire, do not use elevator" panel in
the Austin City Hall. When people come by to call the elevator, these
fiery critters jump out to play. Recipient of 2008 City of Austin People's Choice Award.
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Pond
A pond of fish that eat plants. When you walk up, there are but few
plants because the fish keep the population low. When you enter, the
fish swarm playfully with you but ignore the plants; thus the plant population
swells, demonstrating that a counter-intuitive result of ecosystem
disruption is not the destruction of a species but rather a bloom.
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Reflecting Pool
In an alcove, water flows into a pool surrounded by plants. The water
trickles down the wall and ripples in the pool. You reach to touch the
water, and it flows around your shadow. Many people are surprised when
they touch the water and discover that is is dry.
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Flower Garden
A diversity of flowers bump and
bustle as if the wall were the surface of a pond. Over time they fade
and die, unless you encourage them with light... a flashlight hangs from
the ceiling for this purpose.
Give a flower enough light and it will burst into children flowers.
Most of these children will be similar, but not identical, to the
parent; others will be wild mutants. Over time, the garden grows and
adapts to your taste and mood.
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Fire
Your shadow is combustible.
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Swarm
A swarm of creatures scoots about, schooling like fish or bustling like
ants, depending on their mood. As your shadow enters, the creatures rush
towards you and hide inside your shadow. You move and reveal them behind
you, crowded together and squirming like insects. If you are like most
people, you at first have a visceral feeling of being attacked by bugs and
maybe you pull away. As you get used to them, you might enjoy the feeling of
grooving with this band of critters. If you pay attention, you may
discover that, whether you like it or not, you are an integral part of their
ecosystem.
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Resonator
Weighted balls hang from springs and are attracted to the participant's
shadow. Because each has a different mass, each has a different
resonant frequency. If you can wave your arms to synchronize with the
period of one of the balls you will transfer much energy into them and get
them high enough to hit the bell and get a nice effect.
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Mixing Molecules
Part of the molecular series, this piece lets visitors manipulate virtual
molecules that are diffusing out from two sources. When the two kinds
of molecules find each other, they react in an energetic way.
Participants can work together to create a large concentration of the
reactants and then bring these together for a much larger explosive effect.
The piece demonstrates how the ensemble of many small particles
creates the chemical effects that we experience at a macro-scale.
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Comet
Participants launch comets into a model of the inner
solar system and watch as fly through complicated, hypnotic orbits - with
the occasional satisfying crash into a planet!
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Crystal
Water molecules form a crystal when your hand creates a nucleation point.
Part of the Molecule Series.
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RNA Folding
A cartoon simulation of an RNA molecule floats on a rear-project screen.
Participants use their hands to pull the linear polymer apart and watch as
it folds back again into its native conformation. RNA is perhaps the
most important molecule of life, as it can carry information and act as
a catalyst. See for yourself the thermodynamics of how life began!
Part of the molecule series.
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Salt Freakout
A simulation of a salt crystal is shown. When participants wave their
arms, they heat up the solution causing the crystal to dissolve. Let
the solution cool and the atoms will precipitate back out of solution again.
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Interference
As a participant places her hand on the canvas,
light emanates in the direction her hand is facing. When a second
hand is placed, the light beams interfere with one another, creating
brilliant and beautiful interference patterns. The simulation is
actually an accurate scientific visualization of radio-frequency
interferometry.
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Fractal Zoom
Fractal Zoom allows participants to explore the Mandelbrot set. By forming a
loop with their fingers, they are able to create a kind of magic magnifying
glass with which they can zoom into any part of the set. In the top corner,
the scale factor is related in familiar dimensions.
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Shadow Harp
A harp built by aliens produces a never-ending musical round.
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Microbial Jazz
A genetic algorithm allows you to breed bars of jazz. When a bar is selected
you hear its composition and also cause it to have "babies" which are similar
to the "parent". Over time, a simple melody becomes interesting and rich.
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Birthday
Children jump over each other to be the first to pop the letter balloons that spell
out a customizable Happy Birthday message.
OK, great art it's not, but when you're 4 years old at a children's museum birthday party and hopped up on cupcakes, it's pure fun!
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Laser Go
Play the ancient board game of Go using laser points while lounging on the
couch!
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Double Dutch Jump Rope
Laser pointers are used in tandem to swing a jump rope in order
to hit patterned targets. Coordinating your actions with a partner
is an exercise in mind merging!
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Calder
Using new infrared sensing technology on a
rear-projected screen, participants simply draw a
Calder-like mobile
by touching the canvas. When they hold a beam, the mobile comes alive,
moving around in 3D with realistic physics. Experience Calder mobiles
the way Calder meant you to: by playing with them!
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Mondriaan
With the same technology and in the same spirit
as the Calder piece, this work permits participants to simply sketch out and
edit compositions in the style of the great abstractionist Piet Mondrian.
Create your own composition in 10 seconds!
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Shadow
with Adam Frank
Eyebeam Artists in Residence 2003, New York.
A disembodied shadow wanders around alone in a corner. When the
participant enters, the figure reacts by running away. Aggressively
chasing the figure leads only to his fear and escape. When the participants
stay still, the figure gains trust and steps closer, finally engaging in an
embrace.
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Light Smoke
A swirl of smoke swirls around your flashlight beam like insects around a
light or maybe like a galactic star cluster around a black hole.
Create interstellar dust clouds and mix them up in a blender.
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Save The Baby?
Save
the Baby?" appears to be a large-scale video game, however, the audience
must discover the objective on their own, and as they do, there are some
important surprises! The piece forces the participants to question why
and how they choose to solve problems - in games and real life.
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La Navaja en el Ojo
We have at times used our interactive systems in large-scale theatrical
productions such as the Valencia's Biannual of Art and Fashion.
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Mine-Control is an
artistic endeavor of Zachary Booth Simpson
with contributions from many of his friends. We create interactive installation artwork with natural and
scientific themes for museums, hospitals, and many
other venues around the world.
