The artwork:
What if your hand could generate music without touching any instrument?
What if this music couldn’t be heard but only be seen?
This is “audiovisible” and this is what Hand in The Middle is about!
Hand in the Middle is a name derived from Man in The Middle, which you might have heard about as a computer attack aiming at intercept and/or tamper with communications between 2 devices.
You are controlling your hand and fingers which like the attacker’s tool are generating a signal.
The Thumb is for bass, Index and Middle are for Middle, Ring and Pinky for Treble... but the audio signal, the music, is not to be heard, instead it is sent to a visualization program which is using this signal to generate visual effects.
These effects (12) are randomly switching with a transition being calculated between each of these (for a total of 144 transitions), which makes this unique artwork playful and varied over time.
Physically, this artwork looks like a small pinball, a cult object from the 80’s which is full of positive nostalgia.
It is painted in a fluorescent marble, as a reference to the psychedelic trance music scene, which the author likes and where he has been evolving as a VJ (Video Jockey), a decade ago.
What if your hand could generate music without touching any instrument?
What if this music couldn’t be heard but only be seen?
This is “audiovisible” and this is what Hand in The Middle is about!
Hand in the Middle is a name derived from Man in The Middle, which you might have heard about as a computer attack aiming at intercept and/or tamper with communications between 2 devices.
You are controlling your hand and fingers which like the attacker’s tool are generating a signal.
The Thumb is for bass, Index and Middle are for Middle, Ring and Pinky for Treble... but the audio signal, the music, is not to be heard, instead it is sent to a visualization program which is using this signal to generate visual effects.
These effects (12) are randomly switching with a transition being calculated between each of these (for a total of 144 transitions), which makes this unique artwork playful and varied over time.
Physically, this artwork looks like a small pinball, a cult object from the 80’s which is full of positive nostalgia.
It is painted in a fluorescent marble, as a reference to the psychedelic trance music scene, which the author likes and where he has been evolving as a VJ (Video Jockey), a decade ago.
Technical details
HiTM is an interactive artwork which generates visual effects from movements of a hand and its fingers.
This is done thanks to a Linux PC, a FullHD professional display and a LeapMotion device.
The open-source visual effects generation tool called ProjectM is being used to create the visual effects. This software generates live effects on the screen from presets (list of math equations being used to define the effects) and from the analysis of the music being played, which is used as variables for the preset’s equations. Changes in the rhythm, the volume and the frequencies are modifying the creation and speed of the pictures being generated.
A custom software has been created in order to replace the music with sound created from the movement of the hand:
This detection is very fast and precise, thanks to the detection device which is using a pair of infrared video cameras in order to sense exactly where your hand and fingers are. In fact this technique is very similar to what the human eyes are doing (Stereopsis) for the perception of depth.
For better energy saving, in case of inactivity, the artwork will enter in standby mode after 5 minutes of inactivity and will switch back on automatically if a hand is detected above this sensor.
This arwork should work in every country where there is 100V to 230V AC power and its power plug is a CEE 7/7.
Dimensions : 94 cm x 46 cm x 88 cm
HiTM is an interactive artwork which generates visual effects from movements of a hand and its fingers.
This is done thanks to a Linux PC, a FullHD professional display and a LeapMotion device.
The open-source visual effects generation tool called ProjectM is being used to create the visual effects. This software generates live effects on the screen from presets (list of math equations being used to define the effects) and from the analysis of the music being played, which is used as variables for the preset’s equations. Changes in the rhythm, the volume and the frequencies are modifying the creation and speed of the pictures being generated.
A custom software has been created in order to replace the music with sound created from the movement of the hand:
- The more you move your hand up from the sensor, the faster the rhythm will be.
- Each finger of your hand controls a frequency: from left, which generates basses to the right, which generates trebles. The lower your fingers are compared to a flat hand, the greater the volume of the frequencies it represents increase.
This detection is very fast and precise, thanks to the detection device which is using a pair of infrared video cameras in order to sense exactly where your hand and fingers are. In fact this technique is very similar to what the human eyes are doing (Stereopsis) for the perception of depth.
For better energy saving, in case of inactivity, the artwork will enter in standby mode after 5 minutes of inactivity and will switch back on automatically if a hand is detected above this sensor.
This arwork should work in every country where there is 100V to 230V AC power and its power plug is a CEE 7/7.
Dimensions : 94 cm x 46 cm x 88 cm