Handscapes
Handscapes is a personal project, created with an aim of using interactive media as a means of bringing a richer, more engaging experience to a somewhat traditional presentation of artwork in a gallery space. I wanted to explore the use of non-conventional interfaces for interaction in order to invite exploration and attempt to reshape our precepts of the computer and human-computer interaction. Handscapes is a piece that uses these new interfaces to elevate the viewer from the role of spectator to participant.
This piece starts where most art begins: the hand. Traditionally artists use their hands to create their works. Handscapes uses this same initiator as its source of inspiration. The viewer is presented with a canvas (an LCD screen) and a point of contact (an illuminated column). An overhead camera activates the piece when it detects a participant’;s hand—or hands—on the column. The viewer sees a flash of what has been captured and watches the piece as it begins to layer various marks on the screen. The form of the hand takes shape over time through the traditionally-inspired mark-making techniques. As the piece evolves even further, elaborate textures emerge as a dominant trait while the hand weaves between the lines of figure and ground.