At Hand, movable touch installation

At Hand, movable touch installation 2012
Interactive projection, multiple
HD digital files, custom software


AHM_V_AlkoviB4At Hand movable touch installations constitute a series of interventions into urban space. They stage an imagined and embodied encounter with the other who remains anonymous and whose presence is mediated by moving image and interactive technologies.

The movable touch installation structures are part of an ongoing research and development project for investigating the possibilities of using a touch screen interface for an imaginary encounter.

The team has produced a series of experimental setups, which aim at turning a public window into a temporary touch screen with the means of a video projection and camera interaction. The project has produced installation-interventions into city space in the context of Helsinki Photography Biennial 2012 and in collaboration with the City Sets project and Institut Finlandais in Paris 2012.

The project draws on Heidi Tikka’s archive of participatory video performances produced between 2010-2012. In the video each participant performs her affective being in a place while the camera is focused on her hands. The anonymous hands are projected in a window and they appear to react to a passer-by. If a person approaches the projection the image zooms into the photographic detail of the performer’s skin. The image can be explored by moving one’s fingers on the surface of the projection.

The installation setup consists of 1-3 freestanding elements onto which all the equipment is mounted.

Credits

Concept, production, video work, Heidi Tikka
Prototype design, Jaakko Pesonen
Technical design and software development, Teemu Korpilahti
Kinect software development, Juho Jouhtimäki

Financial support

DIMEKE – Content Development for Digital Media 2009–2011
Arts Council of Finland
Finnish Cultural Foundation
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture

In collaboration with

Ècole nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs
Institut Finlandais