George Legrady, Marco Pinter, Danny Bazo: Swarm Vision

Artist(s):

Title:

Swarm Vision

Exhibition:

SIGGRAPH 2013: XYZN: Scale

Creation Year:

2013

Artist Statement:

Swarm Vision is an installation consisting of multiple pan-tilt-zoom cameras on rails positioned above spectators in an exhibition space. Each camera behaves autonomously based on programmed rules of computer vision.

In the installation, four visualizations are featured on two screens or projections. The first screen features what each of the three cameras sees. The second screen shows a 3D reconstruction of the environment featuring a live video stream of the location of the cameras and the images they generate. Each camera continuously produces 10 still frames per second and fills the 3D space with up to 100 images per camera, their size and location determined by the focal plane and focus location. Early images fade away, creating a continuously changing sculptural structure.

In the exhibition setting, visual segments of spectators who enter the viewing space populate the images, leaving an imprint of their presence that is later erased as the images sequentially fade away. With the two screens, viewers can perceive both individual cameras’ behaviors (microcosmic) and their relationships to each other (macrocosmic). The project explores the transformative condition of the photographic process as it transitions from the still, transparent image to one that is reified within physical space.

The installation synthesizes knowledge and experience from the three collaborators to translate human perception and cultural usage of the photographic image to machine vision. Contributions from George Legrady address the function and our perception of photography. Danny Bazo’s background in robotics, visual arts, and image processing helps realize many technical aspects of the project. Marco Pinter’s extensive background in engineering, medical robotics, and research provides a logistic framework.