Identity SA - an interactive swarm-based animation with a deformed reflection

Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2007.

Identity SA is an interactive and generative installation that combines a swarm-based simulation with real time camera based interaction. The agents’ distributions are transformed into “painterly” images by employing a variety of different visualization techniques and styles, such as texture surfaces, short line segments, font glyphs, curved lines, etc. Camera based Interaction is based on a simple motion detection algorithm that affects the agents’ movements as well as their coloring. Normally, an agent’s color is solely determined by its orientation, but whenever the tracking system detects a visitor’s motion, the agent’s color is additionally affected by the corresponding pixel color in the camera frame. It acts as a visual and acoustic mirror, which distorts the continuity of the visitor’s physical existence into ephemeral patterns and flowing motions.