Performative Media / Assignment 2 Research & Concept Development
Performative Media / Assignment 2 Research & Concept Development
Assignment 2 Research & Concept Development
Performative Media · Concept Proposal & Early Prototyping
1. Introduction
Project 2 explores how interactive media can transform digital visuals into a responsive, expressive environment. Our goal is to design an interactive system where light behaves like a fluid material — shifting, bending, and reacting to the presence of the audience.
For this project, our group is creating Echo Flow, an audio–gesture reactive particle performance built in TouchDesigner. The work focuses on how simple human actions — movement and sound — can shape a complex visual world.
2. Initial Research Overvier To develop a meaningful interaction, we looked into three main areas:
2.1 Interactive Digital Art & Light-Based Works
We studied influential artists and studios whose works explore light as a responsive medium:
- Refik Anadol – Quantum Memories, Machine Hallucinations (data as fluid, emotional visuals)
- Ryoji Ikeda – Test Pattern (minimal, rhythmic, sound-driven light)
- GMUNK – laser and volumetric light projects (cinematic, atmospheric energy)
- United Visual Artists (UVA) – line-based light installations (geometry as emotion)
- Ouchhh Studio – Poetic AI (data-driven poetic visuals)
These works helped us rethink light as something alive, not decorative.
2.2 Interaction as a Meaning-Making System
From class discussions, we learned that interaction is not only technical input. It must carry meaning and express emotion.
We referenced the model introduced in class:
User Action → Sensor Input → Processing → Output Behaviour → Intended Meaning
This shifted our design thinking from “What looks good?” to “What emotional response should this action generate?”.
2.3 Technical Research: TouchDesigner Systems
Technically, we focused on understanding:
- Hand tracking (webcam input and CHOP tracking)
- Audio analysis (Analyze, Filter, Math CHOPs)
- Particle systems (SOP instancing, force fields, noise)
- Feedback loops (temporal trails, motion memory)
- Bloom / Edge / Level TOPs (glow, contrast, highlight control)
This research provided the foundation for building our early prototype.
3. Concept Framework
Our concept is built around a simple but important idea:
“The world is complex, but if you dare to move closer, it reveals its beauty. If you are not bold, you do not get nothing — you just receive less.”
In Echo Flow, light represents the world: chaotic from a distance, but delicate and responsive when you are willing to come closer. Gesture and sound represent courage: when the audience approaches and interacts, the world of light opens up and reacts.
This framing shaped our design direction and the emotional tone of the work.
4. Key Inspirations
4.1 Visual Inspirations
We collected a visual moodboard that includes:
- Flowing light trails and comet-like streaks
- Particle clouds and energy bursts
- Soft volumetric glow and atmospheric gradients
- Hands interacting with light or particles
These references helped us define the emotional qualities of Echo Flow: motion, fluidity, and the feeling of touching light.
4.2 Interaction Inspirations
On the interaction side, we looked at:
- Proximity-based installations that react when someone approaches
- Gesture-as-drawing systems, where bodies create visual traces
- Audio-reactive performances that translate sound into motion
- Immersive projection spaces that surround the viewer
These examples guided us toward the idea of presence-triggered energy — light that behaves differently when someone is brave enough to step into its space.
5. Intended User Experience
5.1 Experience Goals
We summarised our experience goals as:
- Immediate response – movements should cause instant visual changes.
- Intuitive interaction – no controller is needed; the body is the interface.
- Immersive atmosphere – feedback trails and bloom make the visuals feel surrounding and alive.
- Emotional reflection – the piece quietly suggests that approaching complexity can be rewarding.
5.2 Narrative Layer
We developed a short narrative titled “The Moment You Reach for the Light” to metaphorically describe the relationship between courage and response. In this story, light stands in for the world — it looks chaotic at first, but once the person reaches toward it, the light begins to move, swirl, and glow in return.
This narrative gives meaning to the interaction: the audience is rewarded for stepping closer and daring to engage.
6. Prototype Analysis
Based on Activity 2 in class, we organised our prototype priorities into three levels:
6.1 Core Interaction
The essential loop we must stabilise is:
Gesture / sound → force & brightness mapping → particle behaviour change
This requires:
- Stable and smooth hand tracking
- Clean audio input without sudden spikes
- Consistent particle responses to user actions
- A continuous feedback loop that does not break the experience
6.2 Secondary Interaction
Once the core is stable, we plan to explore:
- Alternative colour modes
- Additional gesture mappings (e.g. proximity-based density changes)
- Audio-driven mode shifts based on different frequency profiles
6.3 Visual Polish
Visual polish is deliberately placed last in our priority list. It includes:
- Refining feedback trails to feel more fluid
- Balancing bloom to avoid overexposure
- Fine-tuning colour grading and composition
As our lecturer emphasised, polish is only meaningful once the core interaction behaves reliably.
7. Early Prototype (Week 8)
Our early prototype in TouchDesigner already includes:
- A responsive particle field influenced by hand movement
- Audio-reactive brightness and bloom
- Feedback-based light trails acting as motion memory
We captured screenshots and a demo video to document this stage, and will continue improving stability and clarity.
8. Personal Reflection
How my proposal builds on previous research
My proposal for Project 2 grows directly from the research I conducted earlier on interactive digital art, light-based installations, and audience-centered performative systems. In my previous studies, I focused on artists such as Refik Anadol, Ryoji Ikeda, and United Visual Artists, whose works treat light not as decoration but as a behavior that responds to human presence.
This led me to the conceptual idea:
“The world is complex, but when you step closer, it reveals more beauty.”
This theme became the foundation of our work. What I once explored academically—light, motion, sound, and audience agency—is now transformed into a functioning prototype in TouchDesigner, where light reacts only when the user interacts.
What I discovered during early prototyping
Early prototyping was the most eye-opening part of the project. When we first used the webcam for gesture tracking, everything felt unstable. The hand jitter caused particles to scatter wildly, feedback overexposed the screen, and audio spikes created unintended flashes. These challenges forced us to deeply understand the interactive loop:
Input → Processing → Behaviour → Meaning
We refined the system using:
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Filter / Lag CHOP to smooth motion
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Math CHOP to prevent value spikes
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Trail CHOP to analyse movement speed
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revised feedback + bloom thresholds to maintain clarity
Once these adjustments were made, the visuals began reacting in a way that felt intentional—slow gestures created soft expansions, while fast movements triggered energetic bursts. This was the moment the system started to feel “alive.”
- Now
- Before
Before
In the Week 7, we started preparing design inspirations and ideas, and in the Week 8, we started making prototypes, followed by recording some YouTube videos
Reflection on collaboration
Within the group, my role naturally became the person who connects technical concepts with expression. My teammates focused more on building the CHOP networks and technical systems, while I took responsibility for:
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shaping the concept
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writing the narrative
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creating the PPT and presentation flow
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explaining our design logic clearly
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ensuring our message aligns with research
This experience helped me understand that collaboration depends on different strengths. My contribution was not writing code, but giving the project clarity, structure, and meaning. I learned that a strong interactive artwork requires both technical precision and conceptual intention.
Challenges and how I addressed them
- Challenge 1: Unstable gesture tracking
We solved this through smoothing, value remapping, and speed detection.
- Challenge 2: Overexposed feedback
We refined bloom levels and introduced thresholds to preserve detail.
- Challenge 3: Unclear user experience
position affects force fieldWe redesigned the mapping so that:
speed affects particle explosion
sound intensity affects brightness
- Challenge 4: Lack of narrative coherence
I wrote a short story about approaching light to reinforce the emotional meaning of the interaction.
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