We think artist [Daniel Rozin] spent a bit too much time wondering if he could make an interactive fur mirror, without wondering if he should. The result is… strange — to say the least.
It’s called the PomPom Mirror, and its one of many interactive installations in the Descent With Modification at Bitforms — there’s even a super cute flock of penguins which spin around to create the same effect.
The mirror is 4 by 4 feet and 18″ deep. It has 928 faux fur pom poms which are controlled by 464 motors, each effectively with an “on” and “off” state. A Microsoft Kinect tracks movement and creates a black and white binary image of what it sees. The artist also programmed in a few animation sequences which make the mirror come alive — like some weird furry alien / plant thing…
It’s really weird. But we kinda like it. For a more traditional mirror, check out this long-lost project — an interactive touch sensitive bathroom mirror!
[via This Is Colossal]
This is the best kinetic art I have seen yet.
This technology could be used to make the world’s first dot matrix teddy bear… because why not.
I wish there was more info on how it works. Do the pompoms rotate? Or are they pushed and pulled through holes?
It appears to be a push-pull configuration so the one color of pom-poms hides the ones as they swap which is extended further. I think the next step should be to add touch sensing so you can do things like poke at it and pet it and watch the reactions.
u guys are so rich ….use 464 motors to build nothing …
This comment pleases me in ways I’ll never fully understand
Aww. I should hope our cheap projects get some special appreciation still. Particularly if they have an actual use.
Thanks!
I saw his work years ago and couldn’t find if again lately – awesome stuff.
sooooo, fuuurrrry
Fluuuuuufy baby! Fluffffy baaaaaaaby.
What, no Game of Life program?
*Meanwhile in the latest linux-next sources*
Config -> Drivers -> Video -> Support for fluffy dot-matrix fur displays (EXPERIMENTAL) – [ * ]
You sir, made my day.
LOL
Yeah! Finally a mirror, for when you just need to know if you are there… :)
Should appear in some Sci-Fi movie in the near future… Then everyone will want one.
Not only did such a thing never happen (people all wanting something that exists from a scifi movie), but this thing will set you back $10K and you better have a government sponsoring your art projects to get it set up..
“Not only did such a thing never happen (people all wanting something that exists from a scifi movie), ”
Well, they do, but its normally a good decade or two between it being in a movie and it being IRL.
From flipphones to tablets, a lot of things people wanted from Sci-fi went on to become real successful products.
The public wanting a tablet and the appearance in sci-fi decades earlier are wholly unconnected IMHO.
Now the flip-phone is another matter, the famous star-trek communicator flip might have influenced the want, even many years later.. I say might because maybe it was merely the manufacturer’s designer that took the inspiration and then the universal appeal took the public, because I’m not sure what percentage of the users was aware of the star-trek reference. And talking of which, I hear the feature flip-phone is still half the phone market in japan, which makes me wonder how well known old star-trek is in japan.
All this makes me wonder if apple or samsung or some such will ever release a badge that you touch to activate. Because the BT headset variant where you touch the ear area isn’t quite the same.
Anyway your original suggestion sort of turned it around where you have an introduced product become popular after featuring it in a sci-fi movie, I wonder if that would work – or ever did. It might though now that I thought some more about it, because some technology did get more popular through being featured in media I imagine. Although it’s a hit and miss type of thing I think.
@Galane
Sorry that I was a bit snappy initially, c’est la
guerreinternet.Add more poms and turn it into a flip display. Then when your flight is delayed, you have something soft to bang your head against.
Another way to write in the clouds…..
Is it noisy? Can’t tell from the video, if it was (almost) silent that would be awesome.
Challenge: How would you make it colour? (Lets say 4 colors)
You could potentially make it full colour with enough pom-poms and users standing far enough back. Having a pom-pom half showing reliably might be difficult though, I suspect it would turn out more like furry Pointillism.