dead insect

So I now have video from Neil of our installation in action. It’s built on our home made multi-touch screen, which allows users to paint or draw using their hands or an empty brush.

The idea is that users copy a picture and submit it. The software then creates an composite image based on all the submitted user images. As more and more people submit images, the composite image starts to look more and more like the actual image.

It’s based on the idea of the Wisdom of Crowds – a theory which basically states than in the right conditions, the averaged guess of a crowd will consistently beat any single expert’s guesses. An example of this is sports odds – the odds (which are formed by a huge number of people all guessing and hedging) are a more accurate predictor than any single expert, over time.

Sum of its pArts from Apex on Vimeo.

There’s also a write up and video of the Takeaway Festival 2009 here at Jotta, an online community arts portfolio site.

I really enjoyed working on this. it’s the first bit of interactive art, or in fact any art I have done. I was mostly surprised at how possible it is to build devices that on the outset seem impenetrably complex, and has given me loads of ideas for the future.

Here’s the posh write up of it.

Sum of its Parts

Brief Synopsis
The Sum of its Parts is an experiment in collaborative art. Over the course of an exhibition, participants take turns to reproduce iconic pieces of art. After each interpretation, the average colour is calculated for each pixel to produce the current collaborative work. This installation was exhibited at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre in May 2009.

User Experience
In it’s rest state, the installation cycles through the original pieces of art. Next to the original, the participants’ interpretations are shown being composited together. Once the composite reaches its current state, it pauses briefly before the next original is shown. Participants are instructed to touch the screen to begin. On touching the screen, they are presented with a selection of four works they can reproduce. They select one of the works by touching it at which point it grows to fill the whole screen. On touching the screen it fades away to leave a blank canvas the same colour as the background of the original. There is a menu that allows participants to see the original again, show a palette or submit their painting. After using their hands or a brush to interpret the original and selecting to submit, they see their painting becoming part of the collaborative work. The installation then returns to its rest state.

Tech Spec

Hardware
1 x Laptop running installation software
1 x Multitouch Table Sending TUIO signals over OSC

Multitouch setup for the installation at the Science Museum consisted of:

4 x 780nm 25mw laser
4 x 90 degree line splitter
1 x Unibrain Fire-I Monochrome Webcam
1 x IR Filter
1 x 150cm x 113cm sheet of Perspex
1 x Projector
1 x Sheet of drafting film for back projection

Software
The software for the installation is written in Java. The blob tracking was done using Tbeta.