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The Ripple Effect

Alex Kowal
Ramona Pringle
Rucyl Mills

The Ripple Effect is an immersive video experience that transforms an urban setting into an underwater wonderland, exploring the impact of the human presence on the environment.

http://web.mac.com/alexkowal/iWeb/ripple_effect/Welcome.html

Classes Media Architecture

The Ripple Effect is an immersive video experience that transforms an urban setting into an underwater wonderland, exploring the impact of the human presence on the environment by layering text over the luminous water. As people enter into the installation, they trigger a good fortune in response to their presence.

The Ripple Effect is inspired by the concept of the wishing well, and delivers good fortunes to those who enter into it. Historically, the idea that a wish would be granted by water came from the idea that water contained deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and often a scarce commodity.

The Ripple Effect is a prototyped module from Night Swimming, a large scale immersive installation project conceived for the South Street Seaport.

Night Swimming invites New York City residents and tourists from around the globe to join together at the Manhattan waterfront to experience the magic of balmy summer nights, shimmering moonlit waves, and enchanted aquatic themed interactive displays, in a media event that will transform the South Street Seaport into an underwater wonderland.

Art, music, media and historic architecture are merged with the unrivaled beauty of nature and marine imagery, in this immersive exhibition of light and video and sound.



User Scenario
As the user steps into an ambient underwater environment, ripples and sound reverberate.

From far away, The Ripple Effect is a piece of beauty, a visual installation that is appealing to the eyes.

Close up, the user is invited to 'step into' the installation, into a simulated underwater experience where they have the opportunity to not only 'be inside' of an immersive work of art, but also witness the impact of their presence on their surroundings.

Implementation
IR sensors trigger a video reaction (ripples in the ground and walls) in response to human presence.
2 projectors project multilayered video (different states) onto the wall and ground, speakers play accompanying sound.
Technical elements have been built, and the creative aspect has been prototyped and mocked up in various incarnations for almost two months (see website), now the project is just being "pulled together"