For my ‘mela’ piece, I plan to set it up such that the robots create a path for the user to walk through, such that they can wander through a world where everyone is acting in certain motions, more or less monotonic so they don’t have a crazy sensory overload. Once they get to a certain point, I think it would be interesting to stop everything such that all the focus falls on one person. 

Artistically, I think it would be hard to convey to the user that I want the focus to be on them, as well as the idea that they are ‘in’ the scene. Technically, it might be difficult to make that many moving parts, even if they’re isolated. 

Main steps are as follows: 

  1. Build individual motions
  2. Arrange into a ‘path’ that the user can walk through
  3. Arrange lighting such that it conveys the user’s centrality to the piece

I also don’t know if this idea might be as feasible because it’s harder to send in one person at a time. Maybe that might make it not as practical, though in an ideal world that would be how I would do it.