The artwork:
A smile is a sign of cheerfulness, it is one of the dimensions of laughter, it is one of the visible effects of falling in love with someone, it is the expression of happiness in its most automatic form , almost reptilian. This artwork encourages the spectators to smile, in exchange for a visible effect on it: a reward. Smile is therefore the work of art that rewards the smile, which plays with your simplest but no less important emotions. The work is an ode to laughter therapy and a sculpture acting as a robotic version of an art therapist.
"Smile is an interactive work that rewards the smiles it detects, all around it."
This artwork is my own version of a reverse Death Star (Star Wars), which instead of creating fear and loathing, will make you smile !
Indeed, what you can see on one of the many screens is a virtual magic tree which slowly grows. When you smile and the machine detects it, this magic star-tree will then be fed with a swirling firefly that brings it some additional energy, resulting in a visible quicker growth of said tree for a short period of time. At the same time as this animation is triggered, inside the big ball and its base, a set of optical fibers running from the edge to the center of the sphere... like roots of a tree going to its leaves, are being lit
A smile is a sign of cheerfulness, it is one of the dimensions of laughter, it is one of the visible effects of falling in love with someone, it is the expression of happiness in its most automatic form , almost reptilian. This artwork encourages the spectators to smile, in exchange for a visible effect on it: a reward. Smile is therefore the work of art that rewards the smile, which plays with your simplest but no less important emotions. The work is an ode to laughter therapy and a sculpture acting as a robotic version of an art therapist.
"Smile is an interactive work that rewards the smiles it detects, all around it."
This artwork is my own version of a reverse Death Star (Star Wars), which instead of creating fear and loathing, will make you smile !
Indeed, what you can see on one of the many screens is a virtual magic tree which slowly grows. When you smile and the machine detects it, this magic star-tree will then be fed with a swirling firefly that brings it some additional energy, resulting in a visible quicker growth of said tree for a short period of time. At the same time as this animation is triggered, inside the big ball and its base, a set of optical fibers running from the edge to the center of the sphere... like roots of a tree going to its leaves, are being lit
Technical details
At the heart of this artwork is a powerful PC that analyzes the FullHD streams from the 4 cameras and detects smiles, but also a smaller one that controls the power button and monitors all the tablets. The tablets have been modified, their battery removed and the CPU cooling has been greatly improved. Each tablet is calculating its own version of a unique 3D scene, viewed from a different angle so that if you turn around the big sphere, you will see the scene from all possible angles. Using technologies from massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the tablets are all synchronized in real-time so that you see exactly the same thing at the same time on all the tablets.
The optical fibers are lit thanks to a powerful DMX-controlled device, also controlled by the same custom software that detects smiles.
Behind all these components there is a structure in iron, which has been colored using acid and soldered with very high precision.
Inside the base of the structure, there is an open-frame custom rack which hosts all the power supplies, the PCs, the DMX device, an industrial silent fan (which will only be triggered past 32°C/90°F) and 48 ports of Ethernet switching (silent).
Under normal conditions, the device is completely quite and consumes less than 500 Watts (@220V).
The artwork can be turned on, put in standby mode or shutdown thanks to a key which can be removed from its lock (ie: in order to keep it in a safe place).
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 : 185 cm x 85 cm x 85 cm
At the heart of this artwork is a powerful PC that analyzes the FullHD streams from the 4 cameras and detects smiles, but also a smaller one that controls the power button and monitors all the tablets. The tablets have been modified, their battery removed and the CPU cooling has been greatly improved. Each tablet is calculating its own version of a unique 3D scene, viewed from a different angle so that if you turn around the big sphere, you will see the scene from all possible angles. Using technologies from massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the tablets are all synchronized in real-time so that you see exactly the same thing at the same time on all the tablets.
The optical fibers are lit thanks to a powerful DMX-controlled device, also controlled by the same custom software that detects smiles.
Behind all these components there is a structure in iron, which has been colored using acid and soldered with very high precision.
Inside the base of the structure, there is an open-frame custom rack which hosts all the power supplies, the PCs, the DMX device, an industrial silent fan (which will only be triggered past 32°C/90°F) and 48 ports of Ethernet switching (silent).
Under normal conditions, the device is completely quite and consumes less than 500 Watts (@220V).
The artwork can be turned on, put in standby mode or shutdown thanks to a key which can be removed from its lock (ie: in order to keep it in a safe place).
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 : 185 cm x 85 cm x 85 cm