solar pink pong: street video game premiers at ISEA 2014 in dubai
all images courtesy of assocreation

 

 

 

 

presented at the 20th international symposium on electronic art (ISEA 2014) in dubai, ‘solar pink pong’ by assocreation is a sun-powered street video game, in which a moving sunlight reflection becomes the target and the pavement becomes the screen. in this installation, a computer-controlled color mirror reflects beams to the ground in the form of a neon pink spot. through motion sensing technology, pedestrians can interact with the animated circle. they can kick it with their feet or hit it with the shadows of their hands. they can volley it back and forth with a partner or bounce it off a boundary such as a wall or road marking. the device that makes this interaction possible works autonomously and completely off the grid as it can be mounted on utility poles or trees. the system is equipped with a 3G modem to allow users to monitor its status and watch live gameplay over the internet.

 


video courtesy of assocreation

 

 

 

with this project, the artist collective aims at pushing the boundaries of video game culture outside of the living room, changing the way humans interact with outdoor environments and see daylight through the lens of electronic interfaces. as part of assocreation’s ‘daylight media lab initiative’, it was partly funded by the university of michigan, office of the vice president for research and the penny W. stamps school of art and design.

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
students from zayed university playing a game

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
the work responds to shadows and landscape changes

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
a visitor trying to trap the ball

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
the device mounted on a palm tree

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
public web interface allows users to monitor the status and location of the installation and watch live gameplay over the internet

assocreation solar pink pong street video game isea 2014 dubai
showing the motion tracking of the computer vision camera

 

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.