ANIMA
The heart of the Pufferfish mission is to introduce people to a different way of thinking about using video in public, to take conventional perceptions and expectations and turn them on their head. It is something which we strive to achieve in our work every day, so when an opportunity comes along to do something very special, we grab it with both hands.
That very chance was presented to us by the talented Dutch artists and designers, Nick Verstand and Frouke ten Velden who, along with the exciting German design studio Onformative, came to us with an idea for using our PufferSphere in a project they called ANIMA:
“The installation investigates how we emotionally relate to a digital being. In order to better understand this relationship we created ANIMA: a spherical digital entity that communicates with us by interpreting our body movements and sounds. A generative being that comes to life through interaction. Like any being, we establish a relationship with it, conscious or subconscious, intended or unintentional. In its generative audio-visual behaviour it portrays its character, and creates the illusion of being sensory.” Nick Verstand - ANIMA
Impressed with the proposed concept, we were very keen to be involved and supplied a PufferSphere XL to act as the ‘digital being’ which evolves with the audience. Hanging the PufferSphere XL in a darkened environment, a glowing flow of visuals which many thought resembled a ‘gas planet’ engrossed and captivated its audience at the first showing of ANIMA during the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).
“It was almost as if the sphere was alive or, rather, came to life. When, after a few minutes, four dancers started parading around the object as if it was an intergalactic totem, it very well might have well been alive. I, for one, didn’t see anyone do anything other than stare into the mysterious light source floating in front of us. Mobile phones disappeared into pockets. Talking became whispers about how beautiful the experience was.” Leander Roet - The Creators Project
An installation which truly mesmerises, we are immensely proud to have been involved and feel that we truly have been able to help introduce an audience to a new way of communally viewing video, something which is only highlighted in the write-up by the Creators Project.
Thanks go to the creative visionaries behind the project along with the technical geniuses who put everything together. We look forward to working more with these teams to deliver some exciting installations and experiences soon.
Project Credits:
