Shadow Calligraphy of Dance: An Image-Based Interactive Installation for Capturing Flowing Human Figures

In the artwork, the topic of flowing human figures has been discussed. People pass through familiar places day by day, in which they create connection among them and the city. The impressions, memories and experiences turn the definition of the space in the city into place, and it is meaningful and creates a virtual layer upon the physical world. The artwork tried to arouse people to aware the connection among them and the environment by revealing the invisible traces. The interactive installation was set in outdoor exhibition, and a camera was set align the road and a projector was used for performing image on the wall of the nearby building. Object detection technology has been used in the interactive installation for capturing movements of people. GMM modeling was adopted for capturing frames with vivid face features, and the parameters was set for generating afterimage effect. The projected picture on the wall combined with 25 frames in different update time setting for performing a delayed vision, and only one region in the center of the image played the current frame in real-time, for arousing audience to notice the connection between their movements and the projected picture. In addition, some of them were reversed in horizontal direction for creating a dynamic Chinese brush painting with aesthetic composition. The remaining figures on the wall as mark or print remind people their traces in the city, and that creates the connection among the city and people who has been to the place at the same time. In the interactive installation, the improvisational painting of body calligraphy was exhibited in a collaborative way, in which revealed the face features or human shapes of the crowd in physical point, and also the collaborative experiences or memories in mental aspect.