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The hand from above

Digital

Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 15 October 2009, 10:32    Permalink    Comments (13)

In the latest installation by Chris O'Shea, "unsuspecting pedestrians will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity"

Using the BBC's Big Screens, which are installed in various UK city centres, the Hand From Above playfully transforms passers-by

Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

 

"The BBC Big Screen is fitted with a CCTV camera, linked into a computer that runs the software then outputs to the screen," explains O'Shea. "The software picks a person based on their proportions and how apart they are from other people, then tracks the blob over time using optical flow. If the giant hand removes, flicks or shrinks a person, firstly it rubs out the person from the live video using the background reference pixels. Then the tracked person is redrawn over the top in relation to what the hand is doing, ie being picked up, or flying out to the left of the screen (not shown in this video). When the hand shrinks a person it redraws them into the video at half scale. When there is too big a crowd it resorts to tickling people, with a random selection."

Sounds by Owen Lloyd

Hand from Above is a joint co-commission between FACT: Foundation for Art & Creative Technology and Liverpool City Council for BBC Big Screen Liverpool and the Live Sites Network. It premiered during the inaugural Abandon Normal Devices Festival from September 23 to 27. It will next be on show at the BBC Big Screen in Cardiff from October 22 to 24.

More details here

13 Comments

Very cool interaction with people!
Most Interesting Ideas
2009-10-15 11:54:50

On his website, O'Shea writes that "passers by will be playfully transformed". What a patronising, invasive, annoying exercise.
luca
2009-10-15 11:58:57

where's your sense of fun?
brap
2009-10-15 13:34:18

Luca, pipe down.

This is fantastic.
Toben
2009-10-15 14:43:13

the faces of the participants tell us otherwise luca - look how much they love it! how do i get something on these screens?
Paulo
2009-10-15 15:35:06

This is impudent and sacreligious.
Just TRY to do this in an islamic country!
At least THEY do SOMETHING right.
Josh B.
2009-10-16 02:23:56

@luca: perhaps instead of railing against the patronization of an artist, you should turn your efforts at your government who can do far worse things with a video tape of you in a public place, and without your knowledge.
franc
2009-10-16 07:11:08

Luca, I'd say everyone's fascinated faces on that video tell a different story.
This is a great idea that seems to get people involved and interacting. Can't wait til it comes to a BBC Big Screen near me!
Luci
2009-10-16 08:57:47

This is amazing. Nobody should criticise a harmless piece of fun. Lighten up people!
Becky
2009-10-16 15:19:22

This is impudent and sacreligious.
Two ingredients for making truly creative pieces of work.

Who knows, it may even restore some people's faith...
Pete
2009-10-16 17:26:58

Wonderful stuff. I want a go
Tony
2009-10-17 14:55:50

It's more pervasive than invasive. For one, it's public space, not your living room.

This is a playful concept of manipulation of pixels or 'paint' and the minds of the subjects. A prompt to look around with open eyes!
It is wonderfully interactive, and the results seem to persuade people to dance around and actually enjoy themselves, Oh how terribly out of control!
chris b
2009-10-18 12:57:18

Excellent - I saw this and never knew who produced it - thanks to CR I found out :-)
Liverpool photographer
2010-02-12 13:47:45

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