Falling Up

An interactive installation that allows visitors to control the speed and direction of images of plates crashing through their movement.

SHOWS:
Boston CyberArts Festival - April 2009 - Cambridge, MA USA
Cambridge Science Festival - April 2009 - Cambridge, MA USA
Axiom Gallery - June 2008 - Boston, MA USA

ROLE: Designer, builder and researcher.

CHALLENGE: To create an interactive project that embodies my thesis idea that digital interactions reflect the actions of our minds in ways previous media couldn't.

PROCESS: Sketches, animations and multiple prototypes. Videotaped and interviewed visitors using exhibit to discover interface issues. Used information when creating new versions of the exhibit.

SOLUTION: In the physical world time only moves in one direction - a broken plate can't be unbroken. However, in both our minds and in digital media we move through time with ease.

With Falling Up I was interested in bringing our mental and digital agility with time into the physical world as much as possible.

My solution was to allows visitors to control the speed and direction of larger-than-life images of plates crashing by walking or hopping.

IMPLEMENTATION: I recorded the plates breaking with high-speed video. Depending on the version I used infrared sensors, light sensors or foot switches to control the video, along with an Arduino. I used MaxMSP to program the interaction.

Built three fully realized versions of Falling Up that showed at the Doran Gallery, Axiom Gallery and the Boston Cyberarts Festival.