»Commotion«

The interactive installation »Commotion« was realised in December 2003 during our week-long workshop at the Department of Media & Interaction Design of the ECAL University in Lausanne, Switzerland. Professor Zai (etoy.CORPORATION) had invited us to teach the students how to overcome and redesign the standard computer interface with the help of a USB-Device and some electronics.

Alexandre Armand and Bram Dauw translated this task into a voice-controlled Carrera race: Two players activate the electric cars by making engine noises with their mouth. The volume level is converted into real accelleration by a programmed application. The intermediary apparatus is a helmet equipped with a microphone: it acts simultaneously as inter- and intraface, because at high velocities the helmet starts joggling the “driver” like in a real race – making orientation and putting the car back after hitting the curve too fast a challenge.

The work successfully demonstrates the potential of new design approaches in the field of interaction design: instead of limiting (game-)design to onscreen events and forcing the user to silently adapt to mere manual control elements, here, the computer serves as an analogue facilitator and forms a multisensory technological environment. The man-machine interface, completely integrated into the game, creates a new experience for players and audience. »Commotion« is also a spectacle for viewers/listeners. The acoustic performance of the work establishes a spontaneous reference to the onomatopoetic actionism of the Dadaists. But here the voices do not trail off without effect: the more realistic the vocal imitation of a Formula-1 engine, the more racy the car accelerates - into the crashtest ... For all parties childhood memories are awoken and become reality in a new manner.

Media Art that - like »Commotion« - puts focus on the creative expansion of the possibilities of human interaction shapes the way we experience technology and therefore how we articulate its sociocultural meaning. At the same time it occupies the space where design and art, game and reality intersect, just like the other works that emerged from our "///furshop" at ECAL.

Tilman Reiff & Volker Morawe
//////////fur//// art entertainment interfaces
Trimbornstreet 7 / D-51105 Cologne / zoo@fursr.com

Commotion Website: http://www.francobelgedesign.com/commotion.htm
Other works:       http://www.fursr.com/details.php?id=4