Dérivées locales, 2012.
3D animation with sound.
27 min. 30 sec. loop.

A virtual camera dollies through spaces generated by the collection, visualisation and sonification of data on the environment. Using archived weather information, environmental conditions in five cities, at different dates, are evoked by the transformation of point clouds and a sound synthesis process.

In November 2011, I will pursue the development of the networked interactive installation Dérive during a Vidéophonic residency at AADN (Lyon, France).

http://www.aadn.org/accompagnement-artistique/videophonic-17-derive.html

The installation will be presented on November 11th and 12th at Maison Pour Tous - Salle des Rancy during the Expériences Numériques festival.

http://www.aadn.org/evenements/festival-experiences-numeriques.html
http://www.salledesrancy.com

This interactive installation invites to explore 3D models of spaces that are transformed according to environmental data collected in real time on the Web. A computer vision interface enables the public to interact with a representation which's appearance and level of recognition are determined by information on local meteorological and astronomical phenomena. In addition to their visualization, the data transmited by remote environmental sensors are sonified.

Dérive was initiated during the Géographies variables residency program in April 2010. Inspired by LiDAR datasets and the growing number of augmented mapping applications, models of distant locations were created by the use of photogrammetry, geomatic data and traditional modeling. These 3D point clouds provide fixed XYZ coordinates that are used in a changing virtual space which ressembles a dynamic particle system. The display and positions of the points and of the wireframe connecting them are determined by the following environmental information as a mean to evoke or simulate them.

Local time : Point size and brightness (relative to sunrise and sunset)
Temperature : Point color
Cloudiness : Point saturation and brightness
Wind : Point displacement reflecting speed and direction
Visibility : Intensity of a depth of field effect and transparency
Humidity : Depth of field focus distance and point sharpness
Precipitation : Random lines drawn from the sky are connected to the ground

The sound synthesis process uses these data and atmospheric pressure to generate an interactive sonic environment.

At a time where the reality of urban territories hybridizes with the digital world, the installation uses fluctuating data provided by the network to translate the evolution of phenomena affecting the locations shown at the moment of the public's experience. By connecting the actual and the virtual, Dérive inquires the phenomenology of mixed realities and probes into the changing nature of our perception and representation of the world.

Collaborator

Software development : Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its support, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit, Géographies variables, Labomédia, Sporobole, AADN, Galerie Verticale, BIAN, Bouillants, Art Rock and Perte de Signal for their involvement in the project's realisation and presentation.

Thanks to the U.S. Geological Survey for the topographic data and to Andrew Lock for the city models shared on 3D CAD Browser.

Presentations

Nébuleuses urbaines protoype at La Maison Bourgogne during la Fête des 01. Orléans (France), May 14-23 2010.

Outdoor interactive screen near the Marché de la Gare during Espace [im] média.
Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada) September 6-18 2011.

Presentation at Salle des Rancy (Lyon, France), November 11-12 2011.

Solo exhibition at Galerie Verticale
Laval (Quebec, Canada), March 24 to April 28 2012.

Bouillants #4 // Frontières (Vern-sur-Seiche, France), April 22nd to May 20th 2012.

Art Rock festival (Saint-Brieuc, France), May 22nd to 28th 2012.