Getting off the ground seems to be a theme stuck in my head right now.

The two toys below essentially constitute the subject matter of my first and most developed idea.  I would like to suspend a bubble blowing robot on a wire in the arch hallway of the CFA building.  Using motion tracking and simple computer vision, the robot (perhaps in the form of a squirrel) would be triggered to come out of it’s home when someone walks by.  It would locate them and stop overhead, or follow them as they move.  If they stop, the robot will blow bubbles at them from overhead.

The main idea is to engage viewers with that space in an interactive way.  Where I particularly appreciate the reproduction statues in the hall, the fact that they are static would become interesting again, contrasted with an art installation that is dynamic.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOf43yb4V0U]

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cTmJkCaUI4]

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Another, more literal ‘leaving the ground’ inspiration is from the great work that people are doing with low earth orbit video.  There are an increasing number of amateur and professional projects using GoPro and other HD cameras.  This idea is much less developed, but I’m wondering what may come of recording and tracking a balloon, gathering and editing a video as the final project.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp4suB60fg]

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCAnLxRvNNc]

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The third idea feeds my UFOlogy monkey.  I stay as current as I can on the latest and best UFO/Alien encounter/abduction news.  To me there is nothing greater than the possibility of making contact with extraterrestrial/ extra-dimensional beings.  What is just as interesting is the effect that possibility has on humanity.  Ronald Reagan once said he often thought how an official alien encounter would serve to unite humanity in the knowledge that we are collectively one of potentially hundreds of races.  Or under the suspicion that they could wipe us out if they wanted.  What have you?

I am inspired to do one of two things: a really fun UFO hoax in Pittsburgh, OR a conceptual piece where something very human is sent into space as an alien visit from us, to another civilization.  Imagine, like the videos above, sending a terrestrial object (plant, toy car, etc.) into space as a way of visiting our civilization on the home turf of the aliens.

Theo Jansen's UFO

I also found it hilarious that Theo Jansen, of Strandbeest fame, did a similar project as a young man.

What becomes interesting is our ability to use simple computation to up the ante on jokes played out since the 50’s and 60’s.  We can easily introduce RC, amazing light arrays, cameras and so on.

Foiur "UFO" pictures taken in 1967 by Michigan teenagers Dan and Gram Jaroslaw were reprinted all over the world. The two eventually admitted it was a hoax.

A brief history of UFO hoaxes.