Artists: Julià Carboneras Girgas, Etienne de France, Maria Lalou, Evi Malisianou, Fernando Velázquez
Type of project: ORACLE is an audiovisual interactive installation that uses tracking systems, generative algorithms, sound and video, forming a responsive environment
Dimensions: approximately 4m (length) x 4m (width) x 4m (height)
Materials: Computer, video tracking system, video projection, camera lenses, camera cable, fake walls
ORACLE is the result of a development of ideas that started in the Rovaniemi e-MobiLArt workshop. Starting as an interactive installation which would use the elements of water and ferrofluid, the project ORACLE gradually transformed into an audiovisual interactive installation that forms a responsive environment. The use of ferrofluid contradicted first the mobile aspect of the e-MobiLArt project, second the limitations of collaborative working time, exhibition space and budget. The physical and conceptual evolution in the ORACLE project have occurred through a remote (on-line) collaboration lasting several months but also during meetings outside the context of e-MobiLArt. However these changes refer to the theme of the passage, a concept which we find embodied in the creation and presentation of our contemporary version of an oracle.
The interactive installation ORACLE creates a sensorial experience that generates anticipation, surprise and engagement. The changes between an overwhelming audiovisual display, and the sudden stillness of an image -the Oracles answer to the viewer- enhances original semantics linked to images selected from free public databases, as a metaphor of a collective unconscious. Peoples motions are reflected and embodied on the surface of the floor. The spectators movement and choice of direction are affecting a poetic narrative, enabled by a range of audiovisual effects. The motion and the spatial dynamics of the interfaces enrolment determine the activity of the oracles answers. The spectators receive from the Oracle a hint as reaction to their presence in the space (through the floor interface). Through their movement and exploration they reconstruct a poetic audiovisual narrative until they receive the Oracles answer which they interpret in their own way.
When people enter the installation space, a projection of a graphical interface appears on the floors surface. A wide lens camera, placed on the ceiling, is tracking the motion of people in the room. Peoples movement, rotation and speed trigger the interface and thus generate the projections in front of them. The number of spectators, their position and distance between them, affect the soundscape and visuals of the installation creating a responsive display of video projections and sounds. When a person decides to stand still, the projections unify into a single picture (the oracles answer to that person) that stays frozen until he moves again. The audiovisual content is pre-selected from various free online databases of images under Creative Commons licenses. An algorithm enables the activity of the installation, even when there are no viewers in the space.
Contact artist: Evi Malisianou (evo@evothing.com)
