Wintec group creates interactive installation for Fringe Festival
Fortune favours the bold at a Fringe Festival installation.
A Wintec research group has taken art to the next level at Hamilton’s Fringe Festival.
The same group that brought a 360 degree video experience to Spark week this year is now showcasing its latest interactive installation, Cassandra’s Voice.
Walking into the Creative Waikato studio, on Alexandra Street, you are greeted by a temporary black wall with a door to the installation. Entering it you find yourself in a small, dome shaped room, with a single chair, facing three triangular windows.
The piece senses your presence and Cassandra, the mystical Oracle, appears in the windows.
Cassandra, played by Kay Buchanan, is a series of filmed responses that are projected onto the windows and triggered by various sensors.
Ask her your fortune and she will respond.
Joe Citizen, a member of the research group Signal Response, said the idea behind the work was about getting an audience involved.
“It has been really cool today,” he said.
“With the school holidays on, we have had a few groups come through. And the Fringe fest is a really good opportunity for us to really experiment and try something out of the ordinary.
“It is still a bit glitchy in places, but it has been interesting to see how it responds with big people, as opposed to little people, and people who talk quietly and people who talk loudly,” he said.
“But it has taken on a life of its own. And that, I think, is the perfect definition of good interactivity.”
The installation is a collaborative effort of the Wintec group Signal Response (Wintec Media Arts tutors Joe Citizen, Simon Nicholls, Megan Berry and Jason Long).
With a prime central location, and enough space to host the installation, Citizen said: “Being able to do it here at Creative Waikato is just fantastic.”
Creative Waikato’s CEO Sarah Nathan said: “By hosting an event like this we are able to support and encourage people to participate in events such as the Fringe fest, and celebrate what it does to support the creative community in the city.”
Creative Waikato’s Michelle Parish has enjoyed seeing how people react to the piece. “Some people get confused; and one person asked her where she gets her hair done. It is just absolutely fantastic.”
The installation will be on show to the public from Monday September 30 to Wednesday October 2 from 10am to 4pm, and the final day will be Thursday October 3 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
