Underwater is a large-scale suspended installation that gives the impression of being under the surface of water. Using a Microsoft Kinect, the device I have developed collects real-time surface data from water and is used to articulate the mechanical installation. The complex and subtle movements on the surface of the waterare simulated within the installation byhundreds of servo-motors moving according to the collected data.
The Kinect is a game controller that uses an infrared array to create real-time 3D models of spaces, objects and people in motion. To capture the data for this piece, I have modified the device to be situated above the water surface and directed to view a floating membrane in the water. As the water waves and ripples, the Kinecttracks the movement of the membrane.This movement is transferred to a complex grid of data points, collected within the system and sent to the installation in the gallery space as the membrane floats on the water.Each of the 486servo-motorswithin the installation grid is connected to one data point whose movement will correspond directly to the movement of its respective point on the water membrane. The mechanical result mimics the subtle, complex and dynamic movement of the water viewed from below the surface.
My work is concerned with the aesthetics that result from reactive and generative processes as they relate to the intersections between natural and mechanical systems. The goal of the future primitive within the underwater installation is to create a sophisticated system that provides an immersive mechanical perspective of a natural, dynamicand ageless phenomenon.
