ARTiVIS research | Mónica Mendes
Arts, Real-Time Video, and Interactivity for SustainabilityHug@ree
Hug@ree and engage into a playful symbiotic relationship with nature, for “Everyone should hug a real tree every now and then”
Hug@ree is an interactive installation that provides a bond between urban beings and the forest.
Hug@ree is a ARTiVIS experience composed of two distinct moments. In an outdoor space, participants hug a real tree instrumented with several conductive wires distributed around its trunk, forming a capacitive sensor. A microcontroller attached to the wires triggers a hug when most of the sensors detect theparticipants’ contact, sending a signal through a wireless radio transmitter tothe indoor installation space.While a camera continually records the tree outside, custom software captures and keeps in memory the last few seconds of video. When a hug trigger reaches the wireless radio receiver, the software saves the video and sends it to an interactive tangible projection. Then, participants may access and place the video loop of their own hug on the displayed tree-like structure, becoming leaves of a collective experience.
Hug@ree was designed to be deployed in multiple places in such a way that all instances collect tree hugs that become part of the same virtual world. Further iterations will allow the development of an open source hardware and software kit, a seed for new Hug@ree networked instances, like exhibitions, communities, research centers, festivals, hacklabs and local landmarks.
Hug@ree was first exhibited at the Pop Up City exhibition in Lisbon, and a portable version premiered at AZ Labs Hackmeet in Porto, followed by further presentations in diverse venues: Popup in Lisbon, Sci|Art in Los Angeles, Artropocode in Santiago, and Summer in Maçal do Chão. Here are some Hug@ree timelapses »
