Sweet Pads by France Cadet

‘Sweet Pads’ is an experiment with cognitive dissonance in interaction design.  The installation consists of a multiplayer game of the first person shooter Quake 3 Arena with custom controllers.  The game is known for fast-paced violence but the custom controllers require that players slow down and caress the pad in order to control their character.  Interaction design that evokes examination of the content with which the user interacts is often more interesting than modes of interaction that are very novel, seamless, and/or useful.

MegaFaces by Asif Khan and iart

MegaFaces: Kinetic Facade Shows Giant 3D ‘Selfies’ from iart on Vimeo.
MegaFaces is an installation at the MegaFon Pavilion at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics that displays three dimensional self-portraits, or selfies, into 8x6x2 meter monumental sculptures. People visiting the pavilion enter a photo booth in which they position their faces and photos are taken, then they choose which photo they would like to be displayed.  The installation queues the faces of the visitors and displays three of them at a time like a giant, colored PinPressions toy shown below.

The purpose of the installation is to reacquaint the participants with the concept of the self-portrait and examine their connection to their own face.  In the era of digital surveillance and identification, this sort of examination is necessary.

The Manual Input Workstation by Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman

There are a number of reasons why The Manual Input Workstation makes it to my list.  I have yet to see anything else quite like it. The use of anachronistic technology in conjunction with cutting-edge computer vision techniques presents a very interesting juxtaposition.  There is an element of familiarity with the physical technology present, however, the really impressive aspect of the work is hidden in the software processing.  Also, the use of negative space interests me greatly. Its use is successfully employed in many great works of other visual arts, but to my knowledge has not been utilized in new-media art to any great degree.