If They Only Knew composites a tracked body from one space into the live feed of another space.
The composited body interacts not with their own environment, but a distant one. Yet, the interaction is not reciprocal: the distant context is unaware that it is being streamed. With only one half of the composite aware of the other, can one be said to “interact” with a context doesn’t engage? Or is the streamed representation of the context the “context” in which one engages, prompting new actions and practices to emerge? How does the physical context of the tracked body, hidden from view, continue to shape performance?
Technicals
A custom server used WebRTC to send video data to the browser through a peer-to-peer connection. A Kinect located in one space sent a cut-out body, while a webcam streamed a live video feed.