CONTACT is a single-player installation game. It invites participants to engage in physical movement and play.
In CONTACT, participants use custom controllers, tall dual flexible sticks anchored to the ground with springs at their bases and accelerometer sensors at their top extremities. These controllers require whole-body physical movement to activate. Using them, participants facing a wall projection control the orientation, rotation, and speed of a two-dimensional circular cell-like shape as it negotiates encounters with its environment.
CONTACT is about virtual exploration and meaning making using a simplified simulation at hand. As participants gradually learn to control the central shape and the various consequences of their decision-making, they can interact with the environment in increasingly meaningful ways.
In CONTACT, collision between shapes creates contact. The material (metal and wood), size, mechanical workings of the controllers as well as the physical effort required to operate them are meant to invoke early interfaces and highlight the analog-to-digital human-computer interaction happening when we engage in digital play.
CONTACT as software is meant to evolve. It is not a finished computer program, but a dynamic framework and test bed intended to welcome future play experiences.
EXHIBITION HISTORY:
- "Tactile Perceptions, Two Interactive Installations" with Bonnie Collura, Woskob Family Gallery, State College, PA, Oct 27, Nov 12, 2022
CREDITS:
CONCEPT, DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Andrew Hieronymi
IDEATION
Andrew Hieronymi, Joseph Cusumano, Jonas Rubenson
CONTROLLER DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Matt Olson
CONTROLLER PROTOTYPE
Joseph Cusumano
SOUND DESIGN
Kevin Matthews
SENSOR ENCLOSURE
Tom Lauerman
THANKS TO:
Zsuzsanna Nagy and the Woskob Family Gallery
CONTACT was made possible by a grant from
the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State University
