BURJ 148 is a permanent installation where VIP visitors are invited to dive -like a falcon- out from Burj Khalifa's 148th floor and down into the city of Dubai. Part cinematic and part interactive, this immersive video experience aims to give a sense of the breadth of experiences that make Dubai the multifaceted and cosmopolitan city it is today.
A non-linear experience
Before diving down into the city, visitors are invited to choose from four iconic Dubai destinations to be discovered one at a time. Each one is a separate adventure, with the visitor once again diving down from Level 148 towards each new destination. Each take-off towards a new area of the city shines the spotlight on a different aspect of the culture of Dubai. Each interactive adventure lasts roughly three minutes, each having a varying behavior of "Game Play".
For this project, I was hired by gsmprjct° to design a program in MaxMSP that would form a bridge between the interactivity and the sound portion of this installation.
The software performs: a "melody maker" system responding to data sent by the LEAP (infrared sensor) / sophisticated 6.1 surround & ambisonics controls / master timeline responsiveness over OSC/ a large dynamic "polyphonic sampler"/ path programmable moving "sound reveal" nodes.
"Omnis Interactive" is an interactive experience that accompanies the live performance "Omnis" by the artist Maotik. Following the same art direction and conceptual approach than the performance , the installation invites the user to explore the space perception with the notion of time using a LEAP motion (Infra Red sensor). This high end technology enables to detect the position and rotation of each finger which allows to control with accuracy the interactive features. Through an evolving environment made of various chapters, participants will generate sound and visuals moving their hands into a 3D space. Geometric elements, textures will be modified according to the users hands position. The system is so responsive and handy that it becomes an audio-visual instrument enabling any creative composition.
For this project, I was hired by Maotik to to develop an interactive sound system programmed in MaxMSP. This system enables the user to make melodies which react to the velocity of hand movement, playing a set of predetermined notes whom evolve over time.
Photos Credits : Danila Bustamante
The ADC (formerly known as The Art Directors Club), launched a “one-of-a-kind traveling art exhibit that puts the design ahead of the content.” The exhibit showcases the winners of ADC’s 93rd Annual Awards in an interactive installation executed by a creative team at global ad agency Sid Lee; Les Ateliers Guyon & Interactive Art Designer Philippe Hughes.
The four-piece exhibit is steam punk themed and “makes you work for a sneak peek of the winning work” with simple machines, that require user-interaction to bring the work to life.
It has been showcased in the following cities: New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, Paris & Toronto.
For this project I was hired to design an "Arcade game" like hardware (joystick) and visual software which I programmed & developed using Max/Jitter and the Teensy microcontroller.
Adventures in Your Own Backyard is the fourth studio album by Canadian group Patrick Watson, released in April 2012. The album's launch kicked off the tour at the Corona Theatre in Montreal. The visuals for this tour were directed and produced by visual artist Brigitte Henry.
For this project, I was hired to design and develop a versatile interactive VJ sampler programmed in Max/Jitter.
Northern Lights is a Projection Mapping show presented on parliament hill every night during the summer season. The show illuminates Canadian stories of nation-building, partnership, discovery, valour, pride and vision at the heart of our country. These events are brought to life using five distinct artistic styles. All are presented in spectacular detail, with stirring narration and an original score, against the backdrop of the Centre Block and Peace Tower.
For this project I was hired to develop an interactive physics simulation pipeline as well as create visual content for a large multi-LED screen cube. This “Cube” shows a one hour “game like” pre-show presentation.
This game shares 3 scenes;
“Interactive Leaves” - Participants on each side of the cube use their hands to to move large leaves piles
“Northern Lights Reveal” -Participants use their body to paint northen lights which reveal scenes of a bird’s eye view over canada.
“Rubber Skin” -Particants dance around as they view their silhouettes in a rubber like surface which they can interact with.
This project was created using Max/Jitter and Touch Designer.
21 Balançoires (21 Swings) is a giant collective instrument, (by Daily Tous Les Jours) a game where together we achieve better things than individually.
When in motion, each swing triggers different notes, and when used all together, the swings create a musical composition (by Radwan Ghazi-Moumneh ) in which certain melodies emerge only through cooperation.
Together with Luc-Alain Giraldeau, an animal behaviour professor from the Université du Québec à Montréal’s Science Faculty, DTJ explored the concept of cooperation:
”Cooperation emerges when the behaviour of each individual depends on the decisions of the rest of the group: it’s a game where, from the start, you need to adjust to the actions of others.”
The result is a giant collective instrument that stimulates ownership of the space, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds, and creating a place for playing and hanging out in the middle of the city center.
For this project, I was hired as a MaxMSP consultant to overview certain aspects of the sound programming design.
MusicBox2 is an interactive musical installation based on an original idea presented in NYC in 2006 by Mouna Andraos (missmoun) & Brigitte Henri. It was redesigned by Jean-Christophe Yacono (Yako) whom wanted to give a technological twist to the original mechanical installation.
The piece was presented from inside La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse and invites passers-by to create music using their hands.
Doing a circular gesture, motion sensors capture their hand movement and send a signal that sets gears of different sizes in motion. This causes a chain reaction that rises up to a small miked MusicBox. Users can then hear the music they produce through little speakers that are located outised the gallery’s front windows
For this project, I was invited to write a short child-like musical piece.
I then had to physically transpose the music onto “punch hole type” sheet music.
In early april 2014 , “Comme des enfants” launched a toy & clothing boutique for kids. For the event, I was was approached by store owner, Mariefrance Simard, to come up with something for the event. What I came up with was an interactive projection where kids could play with the falling drawings of artist Pascale Roussin.
How it works: Using an HD webcam, the program first makes a black & white silhouette rendering of the captured subjects; I then use the black pixels to block the falling .png drawings which are programmed to be virtually weighted physical objects. The entire program was done using Max/Jitter.
Coming soon ...
Wonderland is a choreographic installation which positions itself between reality and fiction.
It explores the links that unite performing arts, visual arts, numerical arts and sound in an attempt to make their frontiers disappear.
The storyline is a revamp on the original "Alice in Wonderland". The plot maintains it’s linearity in form by having Alice discover up to five characters while on her journey.
The performance of Wonderland involves using the public & several actors as means to generate "real time" visual & sound content that is then broadcasted on the fly. This way the public becomes part of the performance itself. This is achieved by using microphones and wireless cameras that are strategically hidden to capture unexpected images and sounds. A visual example of this can be seen when Alice opens a book containing a hidden wireless camera and we then notice the actors reacting to her haunting face projected across different walls in the venue. A musical example can be heard when recorded sounds of a talking crowd can be heard rhythmically dancing across the different rooms, jumping from speaker to speaker. This subtle effect of sound on sound (crowd on crowd) is an effective way to confused the audience between reality and fiction.
This project was part of a collaborate effort with Yako & Julie-Anne Côté where I was involved in doing research & development on all Arduino based sensors as well as developing robust prototypes. Also, I was responsible in writing and performing a 45 min musical score with “real time” elements which I accomplished using MaxMSP.
Celebremos Campeche! is a mixture of light, color and motion pictures on the history, culture, biodiversity and hearty traditions, projected on the exterior walls of the municipal library in the heart of the historic center in Campeche, Mexico.
The extravaganza offers a tour of the origins of the galaxy, the Mayan heritage, biodiversity of Campeche, daily life in the city, religious customs in guadalupanas parties, Carmelites and the Black Christ of San Román, the holding Day of the Dead, Carnivals and a photo gallery of past, present and future generations of Campeche.
For this project I was hired by composer Vincent Letellier (Freeworm), as a studio musician to record a few guitar tracks for the show.
The “Infinite Wall” is a permanent installation located in the “Metropolis at Metrotown” shoping mall in Vancouver. The installation invites guests to interact with 5 scenes displayed on a four storey high LED screen wall. Each scene have unique pixel behaviours to choose from.
For this project I was hired to design a custom user interface and pixel manipulation program using Max/Jitter and TouchOSC for Ipad.
Subject to change is a two part piece by performance artist Alexis O’hara. For the first part, you have a question box is installed in a public place for a few days. Passers-by are invited to press the button and use their 15 seconds to record a question, any question. These audio samples are then chopped up and used in a live performance.
For the second part, a dress adorned with copper midi connectors serves as a controller to play back the samples, serving as triggers for spontaneous ‘songs’ that serve as ‘answers’ to the questions. The electrified body of the woman-provider serves as the font for all answers. The work pokes fun at our increasing reliance on the internet for information gathering & the erosion of personal responsibility in western society.
For this project, I was hired to do a “revamp” on the existing electronic dress, making it more musically flexible by designing versatile software based samplers.
All programming was done using MaxMSP.