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The goal of this project is to produce wireless sounds using a musical glove.  The musical gloves uses 3 xbees IEEE 802.15.4 to transmit the readings of force sensing resistors and an accelerometer ADXL330 to a 4th base station xbee.  The readings are interpreted and manipulated in MAX/MSP to produce midi output as well as generative sounds.  This projects is in progress.

System Diagram

Sketches

Prototype

Max Patches

Rainbow Resonance is a computer vision project that generates colors and musical compositions of the equivalent sound frequencies of the spectrum, according to the motion of the participator.

Interactivity

The project encourages the visitor to participate in a playful performance that engages the body to produce colorful images and sound resonances using computer vision. The target audience is everyone who enjoys playing with colors and sounds. A lingering sound invites the visitor to enter the space. Upon entering, the visitor faces a mirror image of him/herself projecting the colors of the rainbow, which are mapped to the figure according to the chakra points. Any movement of the visitor’s hands or body along the vertical axis produces sounds of different frequencies. As the visitor raises the hands higher, the frequencies become higher too. These frequencies are mapped to colors, and each zone of color brightens up as the hands move in that region. An all encompassing composition of the frequencies occurs when the hands rise above the head. The movement of extending the hands towards the sky, is reminiscent of an exercise in chi kung, an ancient Chinese method of healing and strengthening the body, mind and spirit, called “Carrying the Moon”. “Carrying the Moon” is an exercise that focuses on enhancing youthfulness by keeping the spine young.

Implementation

The color scheme is based on the visible light spectrum and is also inspired by the chakras. The colors are mapped to different organs, vertically along the y-axis of an upright body, beginning with red at the lower abdomen area, orange at the navel area, yellow around the stomach, lime-green at the heart area, blue/turqoise at the throat, and purple at the forehead and above. Sound is mapped to corresponding color frequencies (light wavelengths) in the spectrum through multiplication. Using online references enabled me to transpose the visible light spectrum, which is 40 octaves above the audible sound spectrum, into meaningful sound frequencies. Red resonates at 384 Hz, orange resonates at 432 Hz, yellow at 480 Hz, lime-green at at 512 Hz, blue-green resonates at 576 Hz, indigo at 648 Hz, and violet resonates at 720 Hz. A video camera is used as a sensor to detect motion along the y-axis, and motion tracking is used to map the vertical “zones” of the body. The vertical “zone” with the most vivid motion determines the predominant color and sound reflected by the figure. Short sound compositions accompany each color.

Max patches

Background

The background for this project starts from an interest in mapping colors to sounds and vice versa, to examine the different emotional, mental or spiritual states they might evoke. I had always wanted to “hear the colors” and “see the sounds”, and wondered whether colors or sound frequencies actually depict specific emotions or thoughts. The idea of using the chakras as a color reference was inspired by a preoccupation to “see the invisible” by photographing people’s auras. Meditation and the chakras seem an appropriate context for such exploration and experimentation. The chakras are associated with specific colors as well as sounds. However, the associated sounds correlated to the chakras and their equivalent colors do not agree with the results of my study. The chakras are used in this project as an inspiration and not as scientific evidence of any fact.

Chakra associations

1. The kundalini or base chakra, located at the sacrum of the spine, is associated with survival, life energy, and the color RED.
2. The sacral or navel chakra is associated with the sexual organs and sexuality, and the color ORANGE.
3. The solar plexus located in the stomach area, is associated with personal power, confidence, will, and the color YELLOW.
4. The heart chakra is associated with unconditional love, self love, relationships, and the color GREEN.
5. The throat chakra, is associated with voice, expression, communication, and the color BLUE.
6. The third-eye is located at the pineal gland, and is associated with perception, intuition, visualization, and the color INDIGO.
7. The crown chakra, is located at the top of the head, is associated with the cerebral cortex, awareness, consciousness, spirituality, and the color VIOLET.

Sound Frequencies

Through this project I am attempting a scientific approach with regard to mapping colors to their associated sounds, as defined by the electromagnetic spectrum.

While searching for alternative intonation systems to represent colors, it made sense to use natural rhythms as a references for resonances. The Pythagorean middle C seemed a good start because it was divisible by 8, which was close to the Earth’s harmonic circumference at 7.49 Hz (479 Hz), and Shumann Resonance at 7.83 (501 Hz). Other possible frequency correlations I was interested in, was those of the pure colors such as orange at 431 Hz. I was curious to see what intervals would arise between the different frequency mappings of colors.

By trying to map colors to sounds I was surprised to discover that a scale sounding identical to the equal tempered western scale was possible to design, matching the light wavelengths in the spectrum, by using a combination of equal tempered and Pythagorean intervals. The resulting seven tone scale corresponds to the “white keys” on the piano, and accurately represents the seven predominant colors of the light spectrum. It also resembles the Lydian mode scale (Mode V of Gregorian chant) of the Gothic period which consists of the “white keys” in an octave from F to the F above. The color scale starts with red at 384 Hz, a note between G at 392 Hz and F at 349.23 Hz of the western equal tempered scale, and a perfect fourth below the Pythagorean middle C at 512 Hz, and ends with dark violet at 768 Hz, an octave above the starting note. According to Plato, the entire Scale may be constructed using the ratios 2:1, 3:2, 4:3 and 9:8. Starting with the frequency of 512 Hz, which corresponds to a lime green, I used as a guide the Pythagorean circle of fifths to arrive at all the intervals and resulting sound frequencies corresponding to the light spectrum. For example, starting at Middle C, we multiply to the note a fifth above that (3:2) to arrive at G, and a fifth above that gives us D. If we repeat these steps 12 times we construct the whole scale through transposition and arrive back at C, and thus a complete circle.

The Process

In music theory adding intervals means multiplying their ratios. In this case multiplying 512 Hz by a fifth (3:2) we derive 768 Hz which give us the eighth frequency (2:1) of the color scale, and corresponds to dark violet. Dividing 768 by 2 gives as the unison of the color scale at 384 Hz corresponding to color red. This frequency is a perfect fourth (4:3) below 512 Hz and this had to be the starting tone of our scale. By adding two fifths ( 3:2 x 3:2 =9:4 - Major 9th) to 512 Hz , and transposing an octave down we get 432 Hz, the second note of our scale corresponding to orange and an interval of 9:8 - Major 2nd above the unison. At this point the platonic intervals mentioned above 2:1, 3:2, 4:3 and 9:8 are all in place. Multiplying 432 by a fifth gives us 648 Hz, corresponding to indigo and an interval of 27:16 - Major 6th from the unison (9:8 x 3:2=27:16). Multiplying 648 Hz by a fifth, we arrive at a Major 10th above the unison (27:16×3:2 = 81:32), and transposing the result an octave below gives us 486 Hz, a fourth (4:3) down from 648 Hz and a Major 3rd, with an interval of 81:64 above the unison, corresponding to yellow. The Pythagorean Major 3rd is also known as a ditone, since is consists of precisely two whole tones 9:8 x 9:8 = 81:64. In this instance I decided to use the equal tempered Major 3rd interval of 5:4 instead, which yields 480 Hz, still corresponding to yellow and also divisible by 8, as every other color frequency so far. In addition, the resonance of this frequency approximates the Earth’s circumference at 479 Hz. Multiplying the Pythagorean Major 3rd 486 Hz by a fifth, results in 729 Hz, with an interval of 243:128 (81:64 x 3:2), a Major 7th above the unison, corresponding to violet. In this case I also decided to use the equal tempered Major 7th interval of 15:8 which yields 720 Hz, and is also divisible by 8 while still corresponding to violet.

Esoteric Music Theory

The esoteric aspect of music theory runs deep and wide. In this project I have only attempted to scratch on the surface of this complex field of study. It is admittedly intriguing and inspiring to explore correlations between the physical world and symbolisms that pertain to the metaphysical realm, both part of nature.

Chi kung - A healing exercise

Chi kung began when prehistoric man discovered how to manipulate breath, as a form of cosmic energy, used for various purposes. Chinese records show that by 2700 BCE chi kung had become an important aspect of chinese medicine. The earlier type of chi kung was probably a form of meditative dance which encouraged energy balance in the body. Chinese martial arts, especially Shaolin Kungfu make use of chi kung to enhance fighting abilities. Carrying the Moon is one of the best exercises in chi kung and can be found it in many styles. The daily practice of carrying the moon enhances youthfulness and health at 60 and beyond through a supple spine. A chinese saying tells us “You need not worry about growing old, so long as your spine is young”. Carrying the Moon massages and strengthen the kidneys, thus enhancing sexual vitality.

Preliminary worksheets

In his book Microsound, Curtis Roads states that the evolution of musical expression is intertwined with the development of musical instruments, most evident in the 20th century. Beginning with Weidenaar’s Telharmonium synthesizer in 1906, we have evolved to the digital computer, the most precise and flexible electronic music instrument ever conceived.

Roads analyzes a temporal hierarchy of structure in music compositions, and the interaction amongst them as defined by cultural time. Beyond the physical time scales, Roads identifies two ideal temporal boundaries - the infinite and the infinitesimal, both defined by mathematics.

Roads distinguishes nine time scale of music:
Infinite - The ideal time span of mathematical durations such as the infinite sine waves of classical Fourier analysis.
Supra - A time scale beyond that of an individual composition and extended into months, years, decades, and centuries.
Macro - The time scale of overall musical architecture or form, measured in minutes or hours, or in extreme cases, days.
Meso - divisions of form. Groupings of sound objects into hierarchies of phrase structures of various sizes, measured in minutes or seconds,
Sound object - A basic unit of musical structure, generalizing the traditional concept of note to include complex and mutating sounds events on a time scale ranging from a fraction of a second to several seconds.
Micro - Sound particles on a time scale that extends down to the threshold of auditory perception (measures in thousandths of a second or milliseconds).
Sample - The atomic level of digital audio systems: individual binary samples or numerical amplitude values, one following another at a fixed time interval. The period between samples is measure in millionths of a second (microseconds),
Subsample - Fluctuations on a time scale too brief to be properly recorded or perceived, measured in billionths of a second (nanoseconds) or less.
Infinitesimal - The ideal times pan of mathematical durations such as the infinitely brief delta functions. A concept that Curtis mentions is Winckel’s estimate of the “thickness of the present” at abroximately 600 ms. This is the temporal interval that constitutes an estimate of the accumulated lag time of the perceptual cognitive mechanisms associated with hearing.

Meso Time Scale
The mesostructural level groups sound objects into a quasi hierarchy of phrase structures of durations measured in seconds. This local as opposed to global time scale is extremely important in composition, for it is most often on the meso level that the sequences, combinations, and transmutations that constitute musical ideas unfold. Melodic, harmonic, and contrapuntal relations happen here, as do processes such as theme, variations, and many types of development, progression, and juxtaposition. Local rhythmic, and metric patterns, too, unfold on this stratum. Wishart (1994) identifies two properties of sequences in electronic music, the field, i.e., the material or set of elements used in the sequence, which serves as the vocabulary of the piece, and the order, which determines thematic relations, serving as the grammar of the piece. Timbre melodies, simultaneities, i.e., chord analogies, spatial interplay, and textural evolutions are defined through the meso layer in electronic music, also described in Denis Smalley’s theory of spectromorphology.

Sound Masses, Textures, and Clouds
According to Roads a principle of organization on the meso scale in traditional music is the sound mass. Edgard Varese predicted that sounds produced by new instruments would allow the movement of sound masses, or shifting planes, to be perceived, replacing thus the linear counterpoint. “when these sound masses collide the phenomena of penetration or repulsion will seem to occur”.

In the 1950s, a trend toward shaping music thourgh the global attributes of a sound mass began to arise. A cluster of sustained frequencies that fuse into a solid bloc is one type of sound mass. In a certain style of sound mass composition, musical development unfolds as individual lines are added to or removed form this cluster. Gyorgy Ligeti’s Volumina for organ (1962) is a masterpiece of this style, as well as Atmospheres (1961) and Lux Aeterna (1966).

Particles make possible another type of sound mass: statistical clouds of microevents (Xenakis 1960). Wishard (1994) ascribed two properties to cloud textures, their field, i,e, the set of elements used in the texture constant or evolving, and their density, which stipulates the number of events within a given time period, from sparse scatterings to dense scintillations.

Cloud textures encourage a process of statistical evolution, in contrast to the combinatorial sequences of tradition meso structure. The composer can compose specific morphologies within this evolution. Cloud evolutions can take place in the domain of ampllitude (crescendi/decrescendi), internal tempo (accelerando/rallerntando), density (increasing/decreasing), harmonicity (pitch/chord/cluster/noise etc.), and spectrum (high/mid/low, etc).

Xenakis’s tape compositions Concret PH (1958), Bohor I (1962), and Persepolis (1971) feature dense, monolithic clouds, as do many of his workds for traditional instruments. Stockhausen (1957) used statistical form-criteria as one component of his early composition technique. Since the 1960s, particle textures have appeared in numerous electroacoustic compositions, such as the remarkable De natura sonorum (1975) of Bernard Parmegiani.

The diaphanous nature of cloud structures makes possible what Varese refers to as interpenetration of sound masses. A crossfade between two clouds results in a smooth mutation. Mesostructural processes such as disintegraion and coalescence can be realized through manipulations of particle denstiy. Density determines the transparency of the material. An increase in density lifts a cloud into the foreground, while a decrease causes evaporation, dissolving a continuous sound band into a pointillist rhythm or vaporous backgournd texture.

Pieces:
Gyorgy Ligeti’s Volumina (1962)
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~jacob/mp3s/Volumina.mp3

Gyorgy Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna (1966)
http://www.archive.org/details/LuxAeterna-Ligeti

Gyorgy Ligeti’s Atmospheres (1961)
http://www.lichtensteiger.de/ligeti.html

Bernard Parmegiani De natura sonorum (1975)
http://modisti.com/system/image-vp7645.html
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=36872

Pink Floyd
Ummagumma - Careful with that Axe Eugene 1968
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6cSOp_5JQ&feature=related

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Interstellar overdrive Live 1967 - England 1968
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di4FRAEe2UY&feature=related

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Astronomi Domine 1968
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts-2lg5fpQ4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49tLEcgW0Po&feature=related

A saucerful of Secrets (Popeii) Excerpt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76yQFV58-0o&feature=related

Meddle - Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii - Echoes (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sein6WnbY0&feature=related

Meddle - Pink Floyd - Echoes (part 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqmJKXNW6ow&feature=related

Atom Heart Mother 1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCgs5L1ZSXw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nwAkyRjBqE&feature=related 

Live Jamming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-h7wg0iOtc&feature=related

The Inspiration

The inspiration for the aesthetic of the effect came from my friend’s Lori Napoleon’s Diffraction lenses and Laser effects - see Lori’s blog http://itp.nyu.edu/blogs/lan274 and web site http://www.subk.net/holoindex.html. I had always wanted a 360 degree projection in physical space with no screen, and Lori was doing just that with lasers. In this project I achieved a 360 degree projection using a servo motor. I now want to transform the installation to a 180 degree projection. The blue green color scheme resembles the Mediterranean sea and also green lasers.

The Process

Shiffman’s mirror effect triggered the idea of imitating light diffraction and the code was perfect for a diffraction effect! I combined the diffraction effect with Golan Levin’s brightness thresholding for background subtraction to achieve the aesthetic I was looking for. Below are the steps involved in completing the project:

1_Designing the raw effect using Shiffman’s mirror example with processing.

2_Visualizing the final effect in photoshop.

3_Background subtraction using brightness thresholding.

4_Combining the effect with background subtraction.

5_Replicating the image into a multiple effect.

Lighting is key!
When I tested it at home against a white wall and using a desk lamp, I knew that the code basically worked. The process of battling with the code to refine the effect, was a mystifying experience, as unlinke any other visual media I had used before, I had no real control over it. Attempting to combine serial communication with video was a challenging mission. Due to partly my ignorance of what this might entail, and partly my confidence with video and lighting, I was determined to continue. The code, succeeded and broke 4 times for no apparent reason except that serial and video are touchy with each other. The things I tweaked to fix the code in the end did not make any sense to me. For example, changing the order of declaring my variables in setup. Amazingly, and as I had heard usually happens, it all came together the night before my presentation.

Why a mirror? Why multiple images?
Light Identity explores individual identity as multiple reflections of subjective diffracted realities of the fragmented self in the perceptible world of the electronic age. It attempts to prompt the question of identity in the mind of the passer-by in a light and playful way, as images of themselves advance ahead of the subject or follow behind. The mirror reflects individual identity as multiple electronic light objects, alienating and dehumanizing individual identity, and, at the same time representing the multi-dimensionality of identity and the self. Different aspects of identity might be physical, mental, psychological, social, spiritual, economic, artistic, ethical.

Why interactive?
The experience is interactive, and interdependent on the presence of the spectator who also becomes the performer in the installation. The otherwise empty physical space of the installation becomes alive only with the involvement of the audience. Under the light of surveillance, the participator realizes that he/she is both the one that looks and the one being looked at. The boarders between art and life, the artist and the audience are blurred. The question of who the artist is becomes less important as interactive art is as much about the artist as it is about the people who actively or passively interact with the art.

Physical Computing

1_Using a camera for video tracking x and y data input.

2_Mapping x and y data into arduino using serial communication.

3_Servo motor to control the output movement of the mirror.

The installation

For motion tracking and background subtraction I used a black background, IR light, and a night vision camera. A mirror is mounted on a servo motor projecting an image around the room, according to the horizontal movement of the subject in the camera frame.

The possibilities of image processing technologies, particularly data visualization such as computer vision applications or software “mirrors”, when combined with physical computing, are intriguing endless manifestations of creative ideas. Computer vision software is a fascinating field of experimentation for artists. Using the latest technological tools and micro chips such as microcontrollers, interactive screens and installations become alive; art that involves interaction with subjects who happen to walk, wander or perform in front of the camera “mirror”, occurring over a continuum of real time. In the ultimate interactive environment the participator, the person who is being mirrored, can affect the images and/or sounds experienced with real time feedback. Essentially the participator brings the installation to life by “performing” in front of the camera producing individualized unique experiences. Wikipedia, defines computer vision systems as “the scientific study of the theories and techniques for building systems that perform “perception” using images or multi-dimensional data”.

The link between performance art and interactive screens or computer vision is apparent. A reference to the history of minimalism and performance art as it was shaped through the 1960s is necessary to build a connection between past, current and future trends. In the 1960s the performance ideas of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, as well as the “happenings” of Alan Kaprow, and the event-based works of Claes Oldenberg and the Fluxus artists, greatly influenced the artistic scene of New York. A “minimalist aesthetic” was felt throughout the arts including cinema, new theater, conceptual art, performance, and video art. The term Happening, was coined by Alan Kaprow in the late 1950s to describe event-based performances shaped by the participation of the audience that occurred in physical spaces such as abandoned factories, lofts, parks, buses and so no. John Cage’s experimental performances at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s constitute the first Happening events. The minimalist aesthetic rejected any sense of authorship of the artwork and emphasized art as a collaborative, democratic social experience, through an unmediated art, in which the participation of the viewer was as important as that of the artist in the completion of the art work. Influenced by Cage’s indeterminacy, chance operations and audience involvement, Kaprow among others, attempted to eliminate any distinction between audience and performer all together. Kaprow believed that “art is a continual work-in-progress, with an unfolding narrative that is realized through the active participation of the audience.” Furthermore, the theories of Marshal McLuhan whose philosophy may be summed up in the phrase “the medium is the message”, and Buckminster Fuller, prompted artists to seek for spiritual transcendence, by examining the “capabilities” and physiology of the medium. Video artists believed that their formal effects through video art would neutralize mass media by exposing the manipulative intent of television, and thus subvert cultural attitudes towards the mainstream altogether.

The great video art pioneer and fluxus artist Nam June Paik accurately predicted that “someday artists will work with capacitors, resistors and semi-conductiors as they work today with brushes violins and junk.” Improvisational performance is indeed the most “unmediated” form of art, happening in the real now, and representing nothing but itself. Data visualization tools are closer than ever to becoming full interactive experiences, where art becomes real life. With computer vision tools in our hands, it is a challenge to create artworks that become subjective when a participator takes an active role in the piece. The experience is not unmediated because the result is always controlled within certain parameters and variables. But there is still an element of unpredictability and improvisation in the unique outcome of every single subjective experience, when a participator engages in the art work. I am not particularly concerned with providing the illusion to “a user” or participator that they are creating their own effects, or sounds through an art piece I’ve made. The fascinating aspect of computer vision and interactive screens is in my opinion their existence in real time, the very fact that they constitute performances that happen in real life. Whether the viewer, or participator just cruises through the piece or takes a more active part in it, is not that important. What matters is that an interactive experience is essentially a performance happening in the real now, and is real life in itself. Thus art and life are merged.

During a lecture on one of the drivebys at ITP, Marius Watz, an artist and curator who has been working with generative art since the mid-1990’s, showed us his work which uses abstract software compositions in 2D and 3D space. According to Watz generative systems encode subjective aesthetic principles into an external system, such as a piece of software or hardware, or even a completely analog system. In Watz’s opinion this approach provides a computational model of creativity, making it popular with a new generation of digital artists and designers who are turning to code to create new forms of expression. I think that Watz has a point in claiming that artists turn to code, for creative expression, but perhaps the motive behind that is not an examination of the form of code and what it can do, but an abidance with the trends. It’s cool to be working with code in 2007. New technologies are always fascinating to experiment with, especially technologies that are open-source, or free as is processing. Furthermore, artists who explore code are not necessarily concerned with content. In the 1990s digital artists were examining the form of the medium and its capabilities, as artists did before with video. I believe content can be enriched if code is combined with other media, or ideas beyond the scope of exploring code for its own sake. For example, I believe that Watz’s approach to generative art is in sharp contrast to computer vision artists such as Daniel Rozin. Although I enjoyed Watz’s art, I found it somewhat alienating. However, the interactivity of projects such as Rozin’s have an immediacy, a compelling involvement that the passive experience of just simply watching generative art on a screen lacks. Whenever I pass by the Wooden mirror on the 4th floor at ITP, I become aware of my presence in that specific surrounding. The interactive sound and my wooden reflection makes me imagine that the artwork is alive, and there is admittedly a special magic to this “live” real time experience. The wooden mirror has become part of my life.

The struggle between art and technology has never really been resolved until now. Luckily for us, formalist ideologies developed a long time ago by Bauhaus, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy among others, included scientific experimentation in the art vocabulary. However, artists, critics and people, still debate what is art, and what is not, depending on what medium is used. For example, recently I saw two performances in the east village, which involved visuals and sound. In both of them sound was improvised on the spot. The first piece was generative art and the second one was film. I especially enjoyed the first piece where the abstract digital images imitated real life in a few glimpses, alluding to shots of nature. However, at the end of the performance a rather hostile conversation evolved when a member from the audience who is clearly purist in attitude as a painter, reacted about the fact that digital, generative art was used to imitate nature. Interactive art projects are now bridging the gap between art and technology once and for all. This perfect marriage between art and technology is in my opinion the way of the future for many artists.

Finally, I want to relate interactive performance art to the way it capture the attention and brainpower of the participator. In a lecture I attended recently at ITP, Uri Hasson, a postdoctoral fellow at the NYC/CNS (Center for Neural Science) at NYU, presented the results of a study on measuring the effect of films on viewers’ minds, using data visualization (MRI-magnetic resonance imaging). His results illustrated the relative involvement of the brain comparatively in different genres. At one end was no involvement and at the other end was propaganda. Literary films and well told stories as in hollywood seem to surpass other types of genres, with Hitchcock films reaching a brain involvement of 70%. Art films fell rather low on the scale of brain involvement. I would be interested to find out what the involvement of interactive performance art is. It is my suspicion that it would be much higher than art films in general. Perhaps good narrative stories will always be the ultimate form of entertainment for people, whether told through a performance or a screen.

Art was always thought of as a consciousness changing medium. Generative art, or computer art, is no different. Art questions life, whether it’s representational or not, dynamically changing culture. The challenge is to bring art out of the margins and into the mainstream. Computer vision and interactive screens and installations pose the ultimate challenge for artistic expression currently, to me. Interactive experiences are pervasive and immersive when combined with narrative stories. For a while we went into the screens to find art, now we are coming out of the screens into the physical world, via the computer. Interactive art merges art and life, making one aware of the presence of the self in the here and now.