Untitled from Christian Moeller on Vimeo.
MOJO // CHRISTIAN MOELLER
Mojo by Christian Moeller is an interactive art pice that utilizes and industrial robot arm, augmented with stage lighting. The effect is an automated spotlight on the street that follows passers by. The project is a charming intervention in that it creates quite a playful atmosphere on the street. Individuals are given the ability to literally be in “the spotlight” in a public place. I really enjoy the playful aspect of this work. However, I feel that simply using a spotlight was a limitation. Why not use a powerful projector or more advanced dmx lighting? This also has a great opportunity for the presence of sound design. The addition of something like a sound laser may be interesting. Most of all I believe that the interaction could incorporate a bit more. The movement of the robot is quite simple, so some deeper level of interaction could boost the theatrics of the piece. Thematically the piece is very similar to Snout by Golan Levin, however the execution of this project isn’t as dynamic or clear. Although I really enjoy this piece, it set’s a bar for future improvement. There are several ofx add ons that allow interfacing with industrial robots. Although its somewhat unclear as to what was actually used for this project, it is a good example of what could be achieved with the add on.
Kenny Wong and Marco De Mutiis – ][LIMINAL][ Performance Video from Kenny Wong Chi-Chuen on Vimeo.
LIMINAL // KENNY WONG + MARCO DE MUTIS
Liminal by Kenny Wong and Marco De Mutis is a work that utilizes a flock of hacked drones to deliver sound throughout a space. The drones work together to create a distributed sound system that knows no limits of gravity. This allows for a completely free exploration of spaces in ways that un- aided humans cannot. This aspect of the project is very interesting to me. The drones expose something that doesn’t exist otherwise. To me this is a strong justification for their presence. The only missed opportunity that I find with this piece is the absence of visual presence. Although I appreciate the purity of simply engaging sound, I feel like a visual accompaniment could be very powerful. Work with drones has become very prevalent amongst the media arts community. Things such as light painting, and projection have found nice couplings with this hardware typology. There also is a comprehensive ofx add on for the ar drone, which allows a broad low level control of these platforms. This enables adaptability to a number of purposes and networked communications.