Category: Projects

Deep Body explores the body’s position relative to its context, but also the body itself as a context.

Only change in depth is registered. As such, to be seen, one must move. If you stand still, you’ll disappear. Body parts float, isolated from each other as they move, while the rest of the body is indistinguishable from the background. Context is invisible — the chair, table and plants are only visible when moved by the user. They don’t exist except in how they affect the body’s movement.

Technicals

Depth data is captured using a Kinect and is evaluated for change. If the color value at a particular index is different enough from the value in the previous frame, it is drawn to the screen. Change is further exaggerated by manipulating size and opacity of the resulting pixels. Pixels that are more different are larger and brighter.

Thinly Sliced is a still-life where the depth information is layered onto the scene. Is a perspective still recognizable when its depth is transposed into a different dimension?

Two sets of contours represent the same depth, either vertically or horizontally. A greyscale image of recognizable shapes — plants obscured by a bowl in the foreground — becomes a tangle of overlapping lines, where each form’s relative position is described with blue and yellow contours.

Technicals

The depth image was captured using a Kinect’s infrared array to measure distance from the camera. Depth is represented in grey scale values — closest is black, farthest is white.

On the web, an interactive version allows users to “cut” the image based on their mouse position, showing only one slice at a time.

Hand Drawn is the final map in the “hello” series, which explores the body in space. The hand acts as the writing instrument, drawing in mid-air when detected and identified by a Kinect.

Distinct from other maps in the series, Hand Drawn relies on sensor-algorithm technology, such as a Kinect, to identify the body. The technology also defines the drawing extent — that is, the body must be within its view range — unlike the seemingly unlimited extent of “Watch Where You’re Going”. Finally, the drawing is shaped by the mobility and ability of the body. What would the same drawing look like if drawn by the ankle, shoulder, or knee?

Next Steps

• Try a fliptych version in which the action and drawing are separated.

Tilt-Map-Draw is the second in a series of “hello” maps, which explore the body in space. By tilting one’s phone, a user draws a line between the blocks of New York City.

Like the previous, this map asks: how does context shape one’s actions? However, in this instance, the user’s immediate context does not explicitly shape the drawing. The same map could be drawn while sitting in a coffee shop in Dumbo or riding the subway through Queens. Perhaps a sudden sound or bumped table causes a hiccup in the line drawing, but the physical environment in which the map was created cannot be read from the drawing itself.

Further, in drawing through hand movement, the map also asks: how does scale impact one’s performance? Instead of moving across city blocks, movement is now focused on the dexterity of the hand. While the physical context of the drawing is not legible in the map, the dexterity of the user is made evident.

Next Steps

• Allow the user to draw either on an empty canvas or on a map

Watch Where You’re Going — or, Walking is a Slow Way to Draw — is the first in a three-part “hello” series, which explores the body in space. In this map, a person’s movement is traced at the scale of the city block.

The map is a simple website, a drawing tool, and a historical record, which asks: how does the form of the city shape one’s performance? And how does technology shape the representation of one’s history?

Unlike traditional online mapping services, while in-process this map lacks any context — it is a line on a blank canvas. However, when the map is complete, it is paired with an aerial image and the form of the city which shaped the drawing is made evident. The “hello” written in Sunset Park would look different from a “hello” written in Crown Heights. Is it even possible to write “hello” in the winding neighborhood of Todt Hill in Staten Island?

Also, walking is a slow way to draw. It took 45 minutes to write “hello” and technology (GPS accuracy) limited the body’s fidelity as a drawing instrument. Or, put another way, the technology defined the scale at which the body could draw.

Technicals

The on-screen drawing is achieved with P5.js, where geographic coordinates are mapped to the screen extent.

Next Steps

• Automatically resize the canvas size and adjust the scale as a user moves close to the edge of the screen.
• Adjust the projection of the geographic coordinates rather than using only the map() function.