BLINK

Potential location: A public space: plaza / square / atrium
Media that will be used: 10 Beamers/ flatscreens, 10 computers, 10 webcams, cables & software
Required space: About 130 sq.ft / 12 m2 per ‘hub’/ (10 in total)

Aim of the project:
The purpose of BLINK is to create a transparent and reflective environment, which stimulates social contact, but also unveils social paradigm concerning both the digital as the urban domain in a general sence.

Tags:
Media awareness, medialisation, bio-feedback, urbanity, security & privacy, Web 3.0, individuality, swarm behaviour, perception, social media.

1) PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BLINK is an artistic project that includes ICT research:
By using webcams and PC’s installed in a public space, I will create a small video network for random encounters. The title of the project, ‘BLINK’, derives from the verb ‘to blink’. It is a reference to the special image analysis software for this project, which is currently being developed by Pieterjan de Potter of the MMLab of the University of Ghent.
Thanks to this software, each person in front of a PC will see another person each time they blink their eyes. Through the webcams, the attendees will alternately come face to face to all others currently present in the network.
Medio september 2012, there will also follow a sociological study, which will take in the occasion of an exhibition of the project. This study will be led by Prof. Dr. Olga van Oost. She is works for the SMIT (Telecommunication Information Media Studies) of the University of Brussels.

2) ARTISTIC MOTIVATION

“A space is made by telephone
They thought time would be overthrown “ – From: the song Superabound by Frank Black

2.1) Artistic Intentions
In an era in which many aspects of our daily lives are shifting into the digital domain, our ideas about urbanity are changing along. The Web has evolved to become a new form of public space, with its own specific rules and practices. This has an impact on the way we perceive the urban environment as well. While online, we have become more and more open to each other, in public areas we are becoming more and more detached.
As an artist I am interested in how man-made surroundings, such as technology and architecture, influence the way we perceive ourselves and other people. I think of these man-made surrounding as ‘frameworks’ / or ‘formats’ in which we function. I want to reflect on the existing frameworks and formats in society by creating new ones myself. BLINK is an example of this.

2.2) Artistic Goals
With the ‘BLINK’ project, I want to create an artistic experiment. It is about social relations in physical public space and digital public space. By staging an unusual interaction between those two, I want to create a new perspective. The aim is to let users perceive the influence that technology has on their behavior. I want to achieve this by:

- User interface > By letting the interface respond to eye-blinking.
This way the users do not have entire control over what happens. Because eye-blinking can happen both conscious and unconsciously. Therefore the user experience will partially exist of a sense of control [which is key for an interface] but also of a sense of endurance.
It is alright if this causes a little awkwardness:
When someone is getting the feeling of being forced into something, one becomes more aware of the actual implications. So this sense of endurance might cause more alertness and awareness among the users.

- Scale > By retaining a small-scaled network and situate it in a public space.
This will provoke a confrontation amongst users towards their attitude regarding the two different forms of public realm: As a user of BLINK it is legitimate to make contact with a complete stranger. But what if there was a probability you would meet the person in real life?

2.3 ) State of the Art
To place the BLINK idea in a context, I will tell something about what motivates me to do things the way I do them. I am fascinated by coherence, patterns and processes. As an artist, I started as a sculptor, but I have gradually developed myself more and more towards media art. Meanwhile I make interactive installations and I work a lot with open source software. Therefore, my fascinations [for coherence, patterns and processes] more and more transferred into a fascination for social processes.
A flock of starlings is a good illustration of what fascinates me. I think that we are just like the starlings. In our society there are a hole bunch of tendencies and processes that occur simultaneously. There are rules and habits and we are continuously influenced by all kinds of things. Most of it we don’t even notice. Nevertheless , without being aware of it, we form a whole.
To look at myself and others in a new way, I frequently work with ICT and new media. I find these interesting tools to work with, because they play a very prominent role in our lives.

2.4) Where did the BLINK idea came from?
The idea for BLINK derived from the Matchmaker 1.0 project. This was a cooperation between me and Eva van der Velden. The project was intended to investigate communication via heartbeat. The Matchmaker 1.0 selects a ‘match’ by comparing the participants’ heartbeats to each other. When two or more participants are in the same cadence, a line is displayed between them. When designing this system we wondered whether participants would be willing to reveal themselves. In practice people did not object. On the contrary, people didn’t mind at all. By participating in the installation people became more open and dared to have a chat with strangers they didn’t knew. In this case, the medium between the people caused people to be more open to each other. The medium functioned as a mask. So paradoxically, a certain distance can result in more openness. This is the starting point of the BLINK concept.
This phenomenon can also bee seen in the use of multimedia. The overcoming of distances, is intrinsically creating a new distance. Take social media for example: We are influenced by those in the same way: The distance causes more openness. We share more with more people. But do we really connect? And are we getting more social?
An extreme example in which also shows this phenomenon is Chatroullete. The BLINK concept has some clear similarities with it. It’s bizarre to see what people are capable of when you give them a webcam and you let them communicate with a stranger on the other side of the world. It seems like all shame disappears. Hence, Chatroulette is a platform for the most vulgar and basal scenes imaginable. In Chatroulette, the other really remains ‘another’. He is degraded to a screen far away, someone you do not have to worry about. To which you can say and do anything because it doesn’t matter.
Where Chatroulette stops, I want to go another step further. I want to get closer to the users’ skin, by the use of bio-feedback ( ie the respond to eye-blinking ) and by chancing the scale of the network.

3) THE RESEARCH
3.1) ART&D
To realize the project I will be collaborating with Prof. Dr. Olga van Oost en Pieterjan de Potter. Olga is professor associated with the IBBT SMIT of the University of Brussels. Pieterjan is researcher at the Multi Media Lab of the University of Ghent. In order to do so, I received an Art&D research grant worth of €45.000 from the Institute for Broadband Technology in Ghent (the IBBT). Art&D is a yearly program of grants for art-projects concerning ICT research. The theme of this years call was: ‘Augmented Cities’. The trajectory has started in march 2012.
The trajectory will exist out of two phases:

1) From March till August 2012: Development – The development of the software

2) From August till December 2012: Research – the conducting of a social case-study, consisting of participatory studies, observations and depth interviews, in occasion of an exhibition of BLINK

For information about the current state of the Art&D trajectory see:
http://www.ibbt.be/en/projects/overview-projects/p/detail/blink-2

4) THE EXHIBITION INSTALMENT:

- The Network
The BLINK network consists of 10 PC’s.

- The PC’s
Every PC is connected to a beamer and a webcam.
Note: The PC’s don’t use audio and they have no mouse or keyboard.

- The Projection
Every projection displays a video stream deriving from another location in the network.

- The webcam
The webcam is filming the people that are in front of the projection. The video-stream is sent to another location in the network.

- The Software
The image analysis software detects the persons that are being filmed. When they blink their eyes, the displayed video-stream gets swapped with another one.

Note: When several persons are present on the same network location, the image analysis software will choose one person to respond to. After a while, the turn will be switched automatically.

- The Interaction
By blinking, the attendees only affect the display at their own location. The person on the screen is not necessarily looking back: For example: Person on location A is looking at the person at location D, the person at location D is looking at the person on location B, the person on location B is looking at the person on location F, etc…

- The Interface
The interface will be very minimalistic, so that attendees will have to find out what is happening themselves. The only way they can discover what is happening is by communicating with others.

- The Location
The network will be spread in a public building or a public area. It can be situated partially indoors and partially outdoors. Thereby creating a see-through from the outside to the inside, and vice versa.

Since 2010 Marleen Andela keeps a diary of failed computer programs. De computers-programs do operate, but they don’t do what Marleen wants them to do. At the CBK Marleen Andela will exhibit a new work based on one of this failed computer-programs, called SerendipityApp.

Marleen Andela also will be showing a new version of FlowApp. Flow is a concept for a space in which fantasy and reality merge into one. Such a space could also be called a hyper space.

Title: Matchmaker 1.0
Type: Interactive installation
Year: 2011
Artists: Eva van der Velden & Marleen Andela
Made with: Processing & Arduino

The Matchmaker 1.0 select’s a “Match” by comparing comparing the heartbeats of the attendees. Here’s how it works:
A person’s heart rate is measured when he places his finger on the sensor. The computer compares the heart rhythms to those of the other attendees. When the heart rhythms are in sync this is visualized using a line.

The Installation

The Matchmaker 1.0 consists of a circle of seven panels equipped with infrared sensors. There is a visualization in the middle of the circle.

Instructions

Take place at one of the panels and place your index finger on the sensor. In front of you, a representation of your heart beat will be shown.