Nature Spirit
‘Nature spirit’ is an interactive performance artwork using leap motion and max/MSP. In this work, I intend to represent the spirit of nature and diversity aspects of nature with several methods.
Have you thought about the energy which can not be seen but can be felt ? Which elements can make you move? What exact elements make you feel the feelings? In Asian countries, there is the specific word called “Qi” which may explain those questions. Asian people believe Qi to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Qi translates as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or “energy flow“. They describe it as permeating everything and linking their surroundings together. Qi was also linked to the flow of energy around and through the body, forming a cohesive functioning unit. By understanding the rhythm and flow of Qi, they believed they could guide exercises and treatments to provide stability and longevity. In one sentence, ‘Qi’ is the invisible energy of life and it makes every organism flow.
In this project, I tried to represent the ‘Qi’ flow as hand gestures using leap motion. The project consists of multiple objects including audio and visual. All elements are controlled by the hand. The aspect that signifies the hand is ‘Qi’ and other elements are the vitality. For the life, I selected to represent the natural organisms such as wind, flower, animals, tree, and so on. Human or human made elements are not included.
About the sound, there are three types of sounds: background, animals and hand gesture effect. First of all, the background sound is mainly similar to the wind sounds which make nature ambience, but also expresses the whole atmosphere which can be managed by the energy. As a result, it represents the flow of energy. To create more immersive nature ambience, I inserted three animal sounds: lion, buffalo and sheep. These animals are illustrated as representatives of each layer of the food chain. The lion is the highest position, the buffalo stays in the middle and the sheep places below both. The last sound is also the current of the energy but has an even stronger effect in terms of hand movements.
The visual element performs a crucial role in this work. I adapted the kaleidoscope structure to represent the diversity of nature and focus on its own natural colours. I took video myself and inserted it into the kaleidoscope. The video has several scenes, which contain various nature landscapes. That is the reason why I could easily create abstract representations of certain colours and attributes of nature.
