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Following
the success of ‘Picnic on the Screen’, presented
at the Glastonbury Festival 2009, Paul and Charlotte were
recently invited to develop a new version of this interactive
public video installation for the MOVES10 Media Arts Festival
at venues across Liverpool. The installation was billed as
one of the leading artworks at this year’s Festival,
building on the theme of ‘framing motion’ and
used to link public audiences between the Bluecoat Gallery
Garden and locations in Liverpool, for the first time via
a telematic videoconference connection.
This
work was shown in Liverpool town centre, and, simultaneously,
in the gardens of the Bluecoat Gallery, allowing the public
to engage and interact while simply passing through or relaxing
having lunch. This playful environment merged two public spaces
together, creating a third otherworldly space on screen where
people interacted with others across the city at a virtual
picnic table, allowing the audience to explore alternative
networked spaces. The piece explored the potential for interactive
works to engage the public and in this way the audience make
a creative contribution to the installation through the development
of unique narrative events. The works encouraged visitors
to be playful, interacting with others and the environment
in a way that they would not otherwise have done. Utilising
the latest blue screen and HD videoconferencing technology
the installation brought together public participants within
a shared telepresent urban picnic scene. Merging live camera
views of remote audiences together and placing them within
a computer illustrated environment, together with computer
animated elements that are triggered and controlled by the
audience through a unique motion tracking interface integrated
within the installation. Charlotte and Paul also worked with
Alastair Swenson from the School to develop the motion tracking
and flash programming in this installation. |
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