Video documentation (no sound) of [in] as presented in Interaccess, Toronto (Canada) from November 24, 2006 to January 13, 2007.

Photos of [in] as presented in Interaccess
(photos 1 and 2 from Dave Kemp. Photo 3 and 4 from Marc Fournel)

‭[‬in‭]
Interactive video installation - 2006

[in‭] is a installation from the creative collective PLAN B formed by Marc Fournel and Thomas Ouellet Fredericks.‭ This installation questions spatial relations we establish with usual object and our attitudes‭ ‬toward a toy transformed as a direct video control interface.

Physical description and presentation modes of the installation

During the day, when entering the exhibition, visitors see a suspended fuzzy ball and a 2 m X 2.6 m video projection. A small video camera is inserted into the ball. The live video feed is then projected on a wall of the presentation space.

Visitors can freely manipulate the ball. When they put something in front of the ball, or move it around, the projected image transforms according to the movement recorded by the camera. Their movement imposed to the interface modified in a very organic way the image projected on the wall.‭ (see documentation video above)

At night, [in] tunes in to a TV station. The TV's images is then transformed into a mosaic and project projected onto a street level window. The suspended ball becomes a simple witness and leave its interface status to the TV's images. Visitors then witness a complex organic visual ballet determined by the movements and action contained in the broadcast TV images. [in] then self-stimulates and becomes organic urban electronic graffiti.

[in] can be easily adapted for different public projection spaces and projection size.

Platform and programming tools

-Debian/Linux
-Pure Data
-pmpd for Pure data

Equipment and space needed to be provided for presentation

-1 video projectors + cable + mounting bracket (minimum spec for inside presentation: True 1024 x 768 Resolution / 2500 ANSI Lumens / 2000:1 contrast ratio resolution)
-1 A/C circuit
-Presentation space (hall or gallery)
-1 street level window (optional)

The creators
PLAN B is a collaborative team form by media artists Marc Fournel and Thomas Ouellet Fredericks.

Marc Fournel is an "undisciplinary creator," a jack of all trades and an independent coffee drinker active in media art since 1995. Fournel's artistic practice includes video and sound single-channel works and interactive audio and video installations. His present art research focuses on social dynamic, sound algorithms, biological structure digital images, innovative interactive systems and immersive environments. He curated and organized many media art events (in production and presentation) and was deeply involved in the Canadian independent media art scene. A founding member of the collective Vitamin Beziehungen (an artists' and researchers' collective focusing on cybernetic and art practice) and associate researcher of the LMI (Interactive Media Lab, Department of Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal), Fournel lives, loves, eats and works in Montréal. More information about Fournel can be found here

Thomas Ouellet Fredericks is an independent artist, a part-time university teacher and a consultant. After completing a Master's degree in communications at Université du Québec à Montréal in 2003, he specialized in the creation of interactive installations, whose user interfaces are modeled on behavioral and psychological contemporary research. Fredericks' work often uses biological elements, or their simulation, and poses a definite emphasis on the sense of touch. For the last year he has been investigating the emergence of complex reactions from densities of simple agents propagated in the physical space, resulting in the latest collaborative piece, Flock. He is a proud member and active participant of the open source and Creative Commons movements. Fredericks' work has been shown nationally and internationally. He lives and works in Montreal. More information about Fredericks can be found at: http://tof.danslchamp.org