Sensors, Body and Motion

Art can be defined as a coalescing of skills and imagination into creative expression. We often experience the results of this process through our senses and then reflect on the presented work. However, through the use of readily accessible open source technologies, such as sensors and computer vision, it is possible to create interactive art that leverages the full potential of the human body and continuously integrates a person into the artistic expression of the work. Directly injecting people-sensing into an art work creates a unique feedback loop, or dialogue-like relationship, where a person does something and a computer senses what the person did and reacts; the person experiences this reaction through their senses and then reacts themselves, and so on and so forth. This course will examine this feedback loop of sensing people and stimulating people's senses, all within the framework of artistic expression. Students will create interactive installations and performances where the human body is the central component of the art work. Since the human body is naturally dynamic and unpredictable, students will be challenged to develop algorithms that manage potentially chaotic data as well as design systems that help guide people’s physical interactions and input. Students will study past and present works in the field to help inform and direct their own creative decisions.