Submergence by Squidsoup is is an interactive installation of 8,064 suspended LEDs with motion detectors that respond to each visitor’s movement.

About Squidsoup:

Squidsoup is an international group of artists, researchers and designers working with digital, interactive media installations. Our work combines sound, physical space and virtual worlds to produce immersive and emotive headspaces where participants can take active control of their experience. We explore the modes and effects of interactivity, looking to make digital experiences where meaningful and creative interaction can occur.

The Blur Building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro is intended to be the antithesis to sensory overload.

About the project:

The Blur Building is an architecture of atmosphere - a fog mass resulting from natural and manmade forces. Water is pumped from Lake Neuchatel, filtered, and shot as a fine mist through 35,000 high-pressure nozzles. A smart weather system reads the shifting climatic conditions of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and regulates water pressure at a variety of zones. Upon entering Blur, visual and acoustic refereences are erased. There is only an optical “white-out” and the white-noise” of pulsing nozzles. Contrary to immersive environments that strive for visual fidelity in high-definition with ever-greater technical virtuosity, Blur is decidedly low-definition. In this exposition pavilion there is nothing to see but our dependance on vision itself. [It] is an experiment in de-emphasis on an environmental scale. Movement within is unregulated. The public can ascend to the Angel Deck via a stair that emerges through the fog into the blue sky. Water is not only the site and primary material of the building; it is also a culinary pleasure. The public can drink the building. Within, is an immersive acoustic environment by Christian Marclay. 

Shinji Ohmaki’s evolving room installation Moment & Eternity is a tribute to time.

About the project:

Moment and Eternity overturns established codes, eschewing the gallery wall in favour of the floor, and establishing a new form of contact with the viewing public. Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki invites us to interact with and contemplate an evolving, eminently poetic installation.

Moment and Eternity is a kaleidoscope of floral motifs developed at floor level. The dense composition consists of brilliant, coloured pigments applied directly to white felt, using a stencil technique. Visitors are invited to wander across the work: their passage is an integral element in the piece, which evolves as their steps generate new forms. Subject to chance, the ever-changing work evokes the footprint as a testament to the passage of time.

Sound Architecture IV by Ronald van der Meijs is a different sort of “carol of the bells”. It’s made up of 5,000 bicycle bells installed to sway and interact like reeds. When the wind blows they brush together and make chiming sounds.

The Symphony in D Minor is a joint project by Patrick Gallagher and Chris Klapper.

About the project:

Symphony in D Minor is an interactive sound and video installation on an epic scale.  A thunderstorm contained within a series of large hand cast resin sculptures, each individual form is a unique instrument hanging 40 feet from the ceiling.

Suspended just within reach and activated by touch, the viewer sets the symphony in motion by pushing the forms through the air to trigger the various sound elements of the storm.

Like giant illuminated pendulums each sculpture radiates video projections that in their dormant state display abstractions of water droplets and slow moving clouds.  As the sensors detect movement different ranges initiate more visual elements of the storm.   Once activated, the form then shifts to a swirling torrent of clouds.

You can see and hear it in this video:

The Hear Heres by Studio Weave

Studio Weave on their project:

Set within the stunning parkland surrounding the Grade I Listed Kedleston Hall, the Hear Heres offer visitors an immersive and interactive experience that invites curiosity. In response to the competition brief, which called for new perspectives of the National Trust property, we have designed a series of four structures that play with sound and open up auditory vistas in the landscape. The Hear Heres encourage people to explore the landscape and expend energy, but at the same time offer spaces for moments of quiet reflection and soaking up the sounds and sights of this extraordinary setting.

Sol Explorer for iPhone and iPad by Reason Interactive is a super cool app that lets you zip around the solar system in your own spaceship and learn about the planets and their moons in a fun and interactive way. It’s got impressive graphics and a neat video demonstrating the scale of the planets. It’s exactly the kind of interactive eye candy that makes apps so much fun.

Brian of Reason Interactive happens to be a friend of mine and sometimes friendship  comes with perks. In this case, he’s offering it for half price ($0.99) for today (Sunday, Oct. 21) only. 

SonUmbra by Loop.pH is a sort of solar powered tree that is motion sensitive.

About the project:

The atmosphere of musical rhythms, harmonies and luminous patterns are composed by the visitors’ movement - either active or passive. The light emitting fabric of the umbrella is crafted into a lacework of many electroluminescent fibres. This latticed pattern is animated in concert with the generated surround sound and visually illustrates the visitors’ position within the constellation. Wandering unaware or actively gravitating towards Sonumbra each person plays a part and becomes a note in a unique composition of light, sound and space.

More than merely decorative, the tree was designed for use in remote areas in need of low cost lighting. In addition, by providing shade during the day and a light source at night, it could serve as a safe gathering place for local communities.

You can see it in motion in this video:

Sonumbra @ Design and the Elastic Mind from Loop.pH on Vimeo.

China’s Environmental Protection Foundation wanted to draw attention to the increasing environmental impact of the growing Chinese car industry and to encourage people to walk more, and drive less. DDB China Group put together a clever campaign that did exactly that in a fun and engaging way.

About the campaign:

We decided to leverage a busy pedestrian crossing; a place where both pedestrians and drivers meet. We lay a giant canvas of 12.6 meters long by 7 meters wide on the ground, covering the pedestrian crossing with a large leafless tree. Placed on either side of the road beneath the traffic lights, were sponge cushions soaked in green environmentally friendly washable and quick dry paint. As pedestrians walked towards the crossing, they would step onto the green sponge and as they walked, the soles of their feet would make foot imprints onto the tree on the ground. Each green footprint added to the canvas like leaves growing on a bare tree, which made people feel that by walking they could create a greener environment.

The Result:

The Green Pedestrian Crossing was carried out in 7 main streets of Shanghai and later expanded to 132 roads in 15 cities across China. A total number of pedestrians that participated exceeded 3,920,000 people. Key media both online and offline rapidly wrote about the campaign. According to research, the overall awareness of environmental protection had increased 86%. After the campaign, the print was exhibited at the Shanghai Zheng Da Art Museum.

The Ascent by XXXY is equal parts art installation and carnival ride.

About the project:

The Ascent is a live-action performance installation that allows individual participants to levitate over 30 feet into the air through interactive sound and lighting via the power of their own focus and meditation.

See how it works:

Interactive artist Olafur Eliasson splits light into multiple color shadows in his piece Multiple Shadow House. Though it is made simply with a few multi-colored lights, the interactions of the shadows can be quite beautiful in their complexity.

About the project:

Eliasson has cited the work of close friend Einar Thorstein, a philosopher, scientist, and engineer, as a constant source of his visual vocabulary. He has found inspiration in Thorstein’s spatial ideas such as geodesic domes, fivefold symmetries, spiral spheres, towers and pavilions, the golden ratio, and kaleidoscopes. Eliasson uses these concepts to create works like Multiple Shadow House which exist as experiences more than material objects. Presented via transparent means of constructions, these experiences illustrate the nature of perception-based stimulation as well as the artist’s ability to manipulate the experience.

Dune by Studio Roosegaarde

About the project:

Dune is a public interactive landscape that interacts with human behavior. This hybrid of nature and technology is composed of large amounts of fibers that brighten according to the sounds and motion of passing visitors.

Our most recent version is filled with hundreds of interactive lights and sounds. Dune investigates nature in a futuristic relation with urban space by means of looking, walking and interacting.

Stamen Design has just released a visualization tool that transforms web maps into works of art. It’s available in three styles and was made possible through funding by the Knight News Challenge. The News Challenge is part of Knight Foundation’s $100 million plus Media Innovation Initiative, which rewards “new ways to meet community information needs in the digital age”. 

Nervous Structure by Cuppetelli and Mendoza 

About the project:

Nervous Structure is a series of site-specific, interactive installations consisting of string and fabric structures illuminated with interactive computer graphics that react to the presence and motion of viewers.

The piece consists of three planes that intersect: the physical plane (the structure), the virtual plane (the projection) and the perceptual plane (the viewer and his/her interaction). It is in these various points of intersection that the piece works, and our interest lies in the perceptual problems that arise within these intersections.

See some samples of them in motion here:

Biologic is a fun (and free!) app by Bloom that turns your social network into a simulated biological war for your attention. The people in your network are represented by cells and their posts as particles. Factors such as the frequency and popularity of the posts will determine the size of each of these elements helping guide your attention to the most important stuff going on in your networks. You can download it here.