Bubble Beyond
Bubble Beyond is an interactive video installation that allows visitors to engage in an augmented reality where they can play with dozens of virtual bubbles.
Dimensions: 8 ft x 4.5 ft
Materials: Computer with custom software, Kinect v2 interface, video projector
Showings:
Aglow: Cyber and Fiber, Boston CyberArts at First Night Boston, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, Dec 31, 2015
Collision21: More Human, Boston CyberArts Gallery, Boston, MA, Sep 13 to Oct 26, 2014
The bubbles emanate from the heads of visitors as they come into view. The bubbles capture their faces, float around randomly, and morph into expressive emoji. Visitors can pop their bubbles as well as other people’s bubbles.
Up to six visitors are tracked by a Kinect V2 system, which captures both their motion and image using the 1080p video camera. After 30 seconds without human interaction, clouds of emoji float by. A custom algorithm generates the virtual bubbles projected on an 8 x 4.5-foot screen.
Bubble Beyond is a playful representation of our interaction and individual expression in the Internet Age.
Several open-source software projects were used in this installation:
OpenFrameworks - an open-source C++ library for creative coding
ofxKinectV2 - Joshua Noble’s addon for using the Microsoft Kinect V2
I want to thank Jennifer Lim for her help with this installation.