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Curious Place

Maria F. Mendez

In Curious Place generative plant-like shapes thrive on human curiosity as the temperature, humidity and interaction transforms and amplifies a physical space.

http://www.mariafmendez.com/curiousplace/

Classes Thesis

The installation consists of a small screen that displays a generative design of plant-like shapes, attached to a network of sensors that allow it to use the immediate surroundings as raw material.
When a user approaches to see the display, a video tracking system is activated and a projection that expands the design is displayed on the body of the spectator. Thus, the space is altered once through interaction with the participant.
The installation responds to participants locations in the space, but its also related to spatial relationships between participants. A viewer body is visually transformed into part of the piece.

Background
The initial motivation for this research has come from the integration of environmental data as part of the system of rules governing a generative design. This project is about exploration of the elements that can define a particular space.

Audience
Everyone

User Scenario
The structure of the interaction is simple and direct, but the user's control over the system is not absolute a different approach to practical interfaces that are about maintaining the user's sense of complete control.

Gesture capture in which the temporal component of a user’s mark is recorded and played back, in addition to its spatial properties. Producing lively, organically-animated results, and the exceptionally tight relationship it establishes between the user’s input and the system’s output.


Implementation
A generative design of plant-like shapes that use as input information of the place of the installation trough temperature, humidity and light sensors.
The display of the design is projected in the body of the user captured by a video tracking system.
This project is developed in OpenFrameworks