Kodama

Kodama-tachi is an exploration in the interface between alternate worlds: the physical, the virtual, and the imaginary. There is a flexibility in virtual space, you can break the rules and rapidly explore possibilities of living organisms and motions inconceivable in reality. Enter this world, become the environment, a constellation; you have the power to shape what you see with your body.

This project uses a kinect depth camera to track users in a space and visualize their movements as constellations in an astral world, where the ground becomes liquid. The world progresses through different states where users interact with the environment. During the 'day' the tree like form responds to users' movements. There are invisible sensors attached to different virtual joints of the visible users in the tracking space. As the users move, the spatial relationships between these sensors cause the tree to twist and bend. During the 'night' users get the ability to push the ground as it becomes a fluid fabric. Rays shot from the users' arms intersect with the ground fabric and push it in the direction moved. As the morning approaches the ground is reorganized into a plane.

Installation

Ruckus, July-August 2014, Arts Fund, Santa Barbara.

Videos

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