Originally created by the South Australian media arts company Illuminart as the backdrop to Gotye’s live performance during the 2011 ARIA Awards ceremony, a sculpture featuring pixel-mapped, projected animations based on the music video for Gotye’s song “Somebody I Used to Know” was recently reconfigured for interactive play and remixing as part of the VIVID Festival 2012 Light Walk in Sydney.
Entitled “Fractured Heart,” the project first involved designing and building the mapped projections and presenting them as the backdrop to Gotye’s ARIA Awards performance. The second stage of the development of the sculpture, which was supported by Gotye (who provided music samples and his own specialized knowledge), involved the creation of a light and music sculpture that you can play with another person. Together, viewers can dance to kick off live music remixes generated by the work.
Visitors to the sculpture during the VIVID Festival were able to trigger animation and remix the music in real time, purely through physical movement. Each player creates their own remix of the song, triggering notes and animations in response to their dancing. Illuminart plans to continue to develop this technology so that it can be incorporated into live performances, public art projects, and future events. It’s an innovative way of engaging with music and media that has relevance to their planned projects in Australia and beyond.
The media company has also launched a crowd-funding campaign on Pozible seeking to raise money to further develop the “Fractured Heart” project and bring the interactive installation of Gotye’s music to bigger audiences. The campaign can be found here.
See a video of “Fractured Heart” in action on Artinfo.
