julien simshäuser: birth

‘birth’, an installation by bauhaus university students julien simshäuser, claudia symank, and sebastian wolf

the installation ‘birth‘ attempts to recreate the uncertainties and intrigue inherent to exploration with an unusual sculpture that, when touched, effects changes in video projections on display. the installation was designed and created by french-born, germany-based julien simshäuser, with additional electronics and coding by sebastian wolf; the central sculpture is the work of german artist claudia symank.

‘when entering the installation,‘ simshäuser exlains, ‘people take the role of a newborn baby that interacts with things that it hasn’t seen before.‘ conductive fabric and ‘tentacles’ on the sculpture, each containing a flex sensor can be touched and moved, generate changes in the video projections on display.

the installation utilizes arduino to forward sensory input data to apple’s quartz composer, which modifies the projection output. the six video pieces themselves (titled ‘birth 1’ through ‘birth 4’ and ‘tentacle of mega joy 1’ and ‘2’) were created using cinema4D and adobe after effects.

visitor interaction with the sculpture causes changes in the video projections, encouraging exploration and experimentation

video still from ‘birth 4’ projection

video still from ‘birth 3’ projection

video still from ‘tentacle of mega joy 1’ projection

video footage of the installation

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infiniti digital art competition currently, designboom in collaboration with INFINITI is offering an international competition asking participants to design spectacular or interactive digital artworks,to be installed and displayed throughout europe. participation is open to applicants from every country in the world: to professionals, students, vjs, and design- enthusiasts.

registration is free and now open, through july 8th, 2011. for more

information about the competition and how to register, click here.