June 2008


“Stage Fright” is an interactive installation that creates the sensation of flight and tests human perception through a combination of physical and virtual movement that involves the participant’s entire body. It can be seen as a theater of solitude in which it is possible to observe ones own perceptual processes. The work physically involves the body of the audience member through the simple mechanism of the swing, creating a sense of either elation or vertigo. Small events are hidden beyond the frame of the video, so that participants only catch a quick glimpse when they swing high enough.

“Stage Fright” was developed at the Medialab-Prado Madrid, during the ‘Interactivos? Vision Play’ workshop. Ten projects which playfully engage with human perception were chosen to be developed over a period of two weeks in an intense collaborative environment. “Stage Fright” was then exhibited as part of SonarMatica at the Sonar festival in Barcelona. The project could not have been possible without the generosity and energy of my collaborators and teachers at the workshop. The project is realized with Arduino and Processing.

Collaborators:
Video: Sytse Wierenga, Valeria Marraco
Software: Pix, Alvaro Cassinelli, Wendy Ann Mansilla
Hardware: Carlos Corpa, Alexander Narváez, Simone Jones
Thanks to: Emanuel Andel, Laura Olalde, Aniara Rodado, Gariel Roman, Oswald Aspilla Pérez, Jacqueline Steck, Nuria Quintana, Olga Manzanaro