Remote Interactive Animated Projection

Remote Interactive Animated Projection

Robert
Hamilton
School for the Arts McMaster University
hamiltr@mcmaster.ca

2001

New York University

New York, NY

editor

encoder

Sara
A.
Schmidt

Remote
Interactive
Animation

Introduction:
A joint art based project that explores Remote Interactive Animated
Projections has been initiated between the Humanities Computing Department
of McMaster University and the Multimedia department of The School of the
Arts, also of McMaster University. The project will utilize a newly funded
video streaming facility that is currently being organized by the Humanities
Computing department to facilitate faculty research. The Remote Interactive
Animated Projection Project is being initiated in part to foster
interdisciplinary research between The School of the Arts and The Humanities
Computing Department.
The content of the work will largely be animation based. The content will be
generated in advance of the actual installation. Animation was chosen as an
art form because of its flexible nature and the relative ease in which it
can be digitized. Animation allows for a dynamic projection of inner
thoughts and ideas that are at best difficult to render in any other way.
Animation is often derived from abstract thought. At times there is a
struggle to simulate aspects of the world as experienced by an artist. In
this way, much like a draughtsman, the work becomes a distilled thought: a
studied observation. An observation that is somehow greater in its sum than
that of a photograph. In this way, one could suggest that animation is able
to express a remediation of how images are perceived.
One seductive aspect of animation is production time is usually lengthy and
anything but "instant." Production is slow and meticulous. At times the work
can be quite tedious. A thousand ideas come and go as while progressing
image by image. Ones mind wanders and the subconscious seems to permit
unusual thoughts to float to the top. New ideas and connections arise. In
its creation, animation seems to encourage lateral thinking; an intuitive
thought process. Suppressed thoughts gain currency and come to the
forefront. It is no wonder that some of the most inspired examples of
animation are strangely surreal and occasionally frightening. Examples would
be the work of Jan Svankmajer, The Brothers Quay or more recently; various
clips in the recent feature film The Fight Club: the animism of familiar
objects.
The Remote Interactive Animation project attempts to bridge artifice with
reality. The project investigated the creative application of interactive
media within an environment that would normally not be associated with
external media of any form. An example of this would is the potential of a
suburban neighborhood and itís track housing. To intrude upon this
environment presents many possibilities. The project will convert picture
windows in the front of a houses in to a large video screens that randomly
generate narratives which are triggered according to the movements or
reaction of the people passing on the street. The images would be streamed
from a central server directly from the University.

Streaming Video: New Potential for Expression
To augment existing structures and concepts within a community is to address
the possibility of integration or introduction of new media to an
environment that otherwise would not be deemed appropriate. The concern is
to conform media to an actual pre-existing neighborhood. The reason for this
is two-fold: to initiate interest in new media and animation within the
community and secondly, to explore and augment existing forms of community
communications.
In relation to existing forms of communication within a given community such
as television, the introduction of interactivity has begun to radically
alter the relationship between transmitter and audience. No longer passive
yet not entirely empowered, the audience has yet to determine the exact
nature of interactive communication.
An additional purpose is to explore the territory of media interface and
display. Although computers are excellent at creating and/or organizing the
content of media, they are not always the best suited to displaying the
results. This is a major concern: to free media from the confines of a
desktop computer. The goal is to augment an existent display system that
recreates interactive elements found in a computer terminal but within a new
context. In addition, the entire system will be portable, allowing for easy
transport and installation.

Implementation
Essentially, the project consists of streaming video from a central server of
animated figures through a portable projection system in a public space.
Viewers may influence the projection through body movement or other
criteria. The interactive projection is a viable means for creating a rich
experience for the viewer.

Conclusion
The Remote Interactive Animation Project is a work in process that will
evolve over the duration of approximately one year. The project will should
wrap-up by December 2001. The results of the research will be documented and
organized in to an online site. Anticipated results include the
dissemination of fine art based projects in both the immediate community and
abroad, expanding the potential sphere of presentation for art based
projects and the implementation of technology that will offer interactivity
with media at broadband speed.