Afterwords
Video Installation, 2005
STATEMENT
Afterwords enables you to experience another's memories.
Afterwords uses software to create a poetic landscape situated somewhere between memory and the present. It encourages visitors to explore this landscape, providing an open space in which meaning is made through words, presence and movement.
Afterwords is a collaboration between: Randy Moss—artist/software engineer; Michael Evan—poet; Steven Berardelli—exhibit designer; Gabe Kean—interactive designer; Chad Urso McDaniel—software engineer.
IMAGES
Center on Contemporary Art. Click thumbnail to see full size image.Stills from video documentation.
VIDEO
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Center on Contemporary Art3:37 (18 MB) Documents the installation at the Center on Contemporary Art, March 12–April 23, 2005. |
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Early Rendering Test0:20 (3 MB) Demonstration of rendering techniques incorporated into the final installation. |
APPROACH
As people walk into the installation, they immediately become a part of the interactive display projected on the gallery wall in front of them. The display presents a stylized image of each person that follows their movements in real time.
A single line of text floats above each person's head and follows them as they move through the space. People can interact with the text in different ways: they can touch it to change the text, run away from it, or stand still, allowing the text/image relationship to be distilled.
View from inside. View as a visitor
enters the installation.
Twin Screens. The installation is formed by two opposing screens: the front screen is an opaque surface that displays imagery from a ceiling-mounted projector; the rear screen is of translucent green material and is illuminated from behind by fluorescent tubes. As a visitor walks between the screens, her image is captured by a video camera, processed by a computer, and then projected full size on the front screen, forming a mirror-like reflection of her.
View from above. Overall view
of installation in gallery space from above.
Room Within a Room. The rear screen forms a partial wall which divides the gallery space into two adjacent spaces. A passageway at either end of this wall allows for movement between the two spaces. Visitors face the front screen and floor markings upon entrance and so are discouraged from moving too close to the front screen. The two entrances also suggest an obvious traffic pattern through the installation.
Merging. If more than one visitor is in the installation at the same time, their projected forms will merge when they touch or walk by one another. When this happens, their individual texts disappear and are replaced with a single text, floating above the group. When an individual breaks away from the group, her individual text reappears above her.
Two people touching. A single text
fragment floats above a group.
CONSTRUCTION
Afterwords is comprised of the following components:
- A video camera records images of people in the installation.
- A computer running custom software processes the images from the camera and produces the text and animation.
- An LCD projector is suspended from the ceiling or mounted on a pedestal and projects the animation onto a 12' x 9' screen.
The installation minimally requires a 20' x 20' gallery space with an 18' ceiling height and access to a 120V / 10 amp electrical outlet.
Installation layout. Typical physical
layout and dimensions.
REVIEWS
Afterwords was part of the group show "Help Wanted: Collaborations in Art" presented by Born Magazine at the Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle, WA and ran from March 12 through April 23, 2005.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer featured "Help Wanted: Collaborations in Art" in their Life and Arts section. Read Regina Hackett's review.
The Seattle Weekly selected "Help Wanted: Collaborations in Art" as a visual arts pick of the week. Read Andrew Engelson's review.
» Visit Born Magazine's Help Wanted website documenting the show.