Context

“Future Self” is an interactive art piece by the art collective Random International (known for the Rain Room at MoMA, now part of the permanent collection of LACMA) and residing in Berlin using a 3D grid of LED lights to recreate the human form.

Mechanism

Simple in theory but likely computationally complex “Future Self” responds not only to a person’s movement, but their distance from the piece, their form itself, and which direction their movements are coming from; all of which is reflected in the 3D light grid that makes up the body of the piece.  The piece is also able to detect whether or not there is more than one human interacting with the piece at a time, even going so far as to intersect the individual forms, creating an in-between space where people can interact without coming into physical contact.  The mechanism is impressively able to respond fluidly and accurately to the sudden, subtle, dynamic movements of the dancers shown in the video, allowing the expression of their dance to shine through the piece.

Why?

The importance of this piece lies in its simplicity of form and function, as well as the poeticism of what it actually does.  It abstracts the human form just enough to make it universal but captures a person’s individualized movements accurately enough that they can relate/identify with the form the piece presents them with.  The artists even thought to include a purposeful delay between when a person moves and when “Future Self” responds to add an extra layer of magic to the piece.  Although undeniably relating back to human form and the human experience of self through our day-to-day interactions with reflections and mirrors in general, it retains its computational and mechanical aspects through the simplistic and basic form of the 3D grid.  It’s very clear that a machine is a machine, that the image one is presented with is the result of computation and mechanical, not mystical, means, but still allows for and facilitates both playfulness and wonder.  Without the distance and abstraction provided by the computation of the piece, the viewer wouldn’t find it as playful or poetic, and it would lose some of its weight.  It is this perfect balance between computational design’s capacity to create relatable, recognizable, slightly human responses to human interactions and through complicated computation in a minimalistic and abstracted output where the ideas of this class have the greatest potential.  Although not practical or particularly innovative “Future Self” embodies this delicate balance, and the result is unquestionably beautiful.

link to the Rain Room, another great piece by RANDOM INTERNATIONAL

not entirely related or super computational, but another piece that puts forth this idea of play ThinkGeek’s useless box