'Fish have no empathy', 'they're stupid' and 'they smell', are a few of the responses to the Fish Play project. Most people do not cherish fish. Professor Gert Flik (Radboud University) wonders if opinions about fish and fish-welfare will change if people experience some kind of relationship with them. This project was all about facilitating this relationship.

 

Many human-animal relationships are founded on being able to perceive emotion in animals and/or being able to touch them. These features are not applicable to fish, but there still is a sparkle of hope. The team focussed on admiration and interaction to facilitate the relationship. The mere response of an animal stimulates the feeling of connection.

 

'Stream' submerges users in a wonderful world where they can enjoy the beauty and serenity of fish and the alien world they live in. This is accomplished by changing the walls, ceiling and floor of an elevator into interactive displays. A live video feed is being streamed to these displays from a miniature version of an elevator within an aquarium. The interaction the user performs from within the actual elevator will be instantly translated into stimuli for the fish.

 

For example: the user claps his hands and fish will swim towards the elevator.