plplpl.pl - Matthias Oostrik
Concept and brief
For the development of the interactive anti-surveillance machine plplpl.pl audiovisual artist Matthias Oostrik applied digital technologies from the surveillance industry to observe the audience’s behaviour. plplpl.pl analyses the behaviour and responds to the audience with actions, based on digital surveillance algorithms. An experimental man-machine interaction project developed, prototyped, tested and constructed in collaboration with BeamLab.
Technical description
Oostrik consulted the expertise of BeamLab during the research phase of available equipment on the market, setting up the technical requirments and placing the orders of equipment. Together with Oostrik we build a spherical machine with the size of 2.2m x 2m x 2.6m (width x diameter x height). plplpl.pl consists of two concave parts – each of 4 bows - attached to each other by two connecting plates. A total of 48 monitors and 3 surveillance cameras are attached to the outside of the frame. The core of the frame contains the technical circuit and cables. The machine is controlled by a remote computer and the necessary drivers.
How did BeamLab support?
Since the origin of the plplpl.pl project in 2009 Oostrik collaborated with BeamLab. BeamLab’s demo room and peripheral equipment was used for set-ups and to improve the interaction between the machine’s system and the audience. Other services BeamLab provided during the plplpl.pl production process; were advise on material to build the spherical frame, software and hardware configuration, testing user-feedback systems and taking care of transport of the installation.
Other partners
For the realisation of plplpl.pl Matthias Oostrik was supported by Amsterdam Fonds voor Kunst, Fonds Stimulering Creatieve Industrie.