Photocredit: Nemanja KnezevicCreated by Gregor Woschitz, “mirror_0.2” is an interactive installation that seeks to replace the installation visitor’s reflection with that of the artist. The visitor stands before a monitor that looks like a mirror. The background is a 3-D scan that resembles the background of the actual space behind the visitor. Plus, the virtual space is slightly distorted in a realistic way to strengthen the illusion of a mirror image. A Kinect installed above the monitor screen registers the position and facial expression of the person standing in front of it. If that person changes his/her expression, posture or distance from the mirror, this is registered by the installation’s software, which then replaces the visitor’s image with the corresponding image of the artist. Instead of seeing their own reflection in the mirror, installation visitors see the artist imitating them.
For this installation, the artist shot approximately 100,000 images of himself with different facial expressions, his head tilted in various directions, and in diverse postures. Software determines which of these photos most closely resembles the appearance of the person standing in front of the mirror and displays that particular photo on the monitor screen.
“mirror_0.2” is part of the “TIME OUT .06” exhibition running at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz starting June 8, 2016.