Bubbles

The Art of Simplicity

First exhibited at Schloss Wahn, Theatre Archive of the University of Cologne

Collaboration with Kiyoshi Furukawa

Bubbles is a multi-user computer-based interactive art environment that enables participants to interact with a real-time simulation of floating bubbles. By entering the light beam of the data projector, the participant casts a shadow onto the projection screen.  A live video camera captures the display area, and a standard Apple PowerBook G3 evaluates the video signal through a custom-built machine-vision system. The system can detect any intersection of one of the computer-generated bubbles with any part of the shadows and computes a corresponding response for the behaviour of the bubbles. The bubbles bounce off the shadow’s silhouette and create a corresponding sound according to a sound-action design defined by composer Kiyoshi Furukawa. Defined as autonomous objects inspired by Braitenberg’s definition of a complex system of communicating objects with very simple internal structures (Braitenberg, 1984), the bubbles‘ behaviour and their response to any user interaction is based on a set of simulated physical laws following simple artificial live rules. Both the overall state of the complex system and the shadows’ interaction with virtual bubbles create nonlinear musical structures generated in real-time utilising a midi interface and midi synthesiser.