Still Life/Optical Flow—Framed

A study on how traditional artworks could evolve with technology

Still Life and Optical Flow were created by invitation for tha's Framed digital picture frame. Still Life developed with Alexander Stengel and Roger Pala.

Still Life creates a living piece from the standard subject matter of still life painting, a painting that desires to be viewed, and indeed will change if not. This flower hungers for attention, not water. This artwork uses long timescales as a principal mode of interaction, juxtaposing the function of a wall hung image with the behavior of its observers. Optical Flow captures echoes of movement in the room in which it is hung. It's one of three art applications I've created for the device. The future of all energy is a state of inert uniformity, Optical Flow is a swan song analogous to this entropy, as the energy of your movement is amplified into a kaleidoscope and then disappears forever.

It's the result of merging two libraries together in openframeworks, one controlling fluid movement the other aggregating a movement flow fro, webcam input. I then adjusted the fluid so that movement broke apart staggered overlapping triangles of 3 hues. The resulting blending of these colours creates vibrant coloured patterns from any movement in the room in which it is hung.