The moving portrait is based on a set of black and white portraits, comprising a rich library of photographic sequences. The portrait resides in a picture frame and interacts with its viewers using a variety of sensing techniques (vision, ultrasonic, RFID etc.). The sensing architecture enables the portrait to be aware of viewers’ presence, identity, distance, speed, and body movements. The cognitive architecture controls the portrait’s reaction, taking into account the viewer’s behavior, the portrait’s mood, as well as memory of previous interactions. All of which contributes to a complex, believable behavior.
A portrait is an inseparable part of our emotional life, but it is also a part of our environment. It represents a part of our life and a reflection of our feelings, however it is completely oblivious to the events that occur around it or to the people who view it.
By adding interaction, dynamics, and memory to a familiar portrait we create a different and more engaging relationship between the viewer and the portrait. The viewer gets to know more about the subject and in addition the portrait’s responses are adapted to the viewer’s behavior and to prior interactions with current and former viewers. Just like in real life, where every person reveals a different side of his/her personality to different people and situations, the evocative portrait reveals different sides of its own personality.
This project is currently in stasis.
Project Resources
- Frames from the Gaia moving portrait. [ view ]
Publications
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Interactive Portraiture: Designing Intimate Interactive Experiences
Orit Zuckerman (2005).
Submitted to the Program of Media Arts and Sciences School of Architecture and Planning, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. September 2005.