This is an iteractive installation built for SMASH, the Gardiner Museum’s annual celebration of art and culture in Toronto. The theme for 2018 was “we are more” a statement on how technology can be used to bring us closer together and form new, shared experiences. Our challenge was to create an installation that embodied that potential in a way that could seamlessly blend in with the space while also standing out.
We were inspired by observing all the ways people connect digitally from email to messaging to video chatting.We decided our installation should focus on bringing digital interactions into a physical space by using the screens that separate us to bring us closer to each other.
We aimed to connect people with each other and observers with art. We believe that there is beauty in the interactions people have organically and bring them out of the background and into the forefront. Through this RIFTs become more than just an installation, they become gateways to ourselves bring all of SMASH’s attendants closer together. Through these interactions, we demonstrate that despite these barriers, meaningful connections can be created, stitching the rift together.
For our design, we created a series of boxes that contained a display, a Microsoft Kinect and a camera. Each box displays a different space at the event and highlights a different piece of art. As attendees approached the installation, the RIFT box would recognize their face and adjust the video to display a portion area of the space. This created a parallax effect that allowed viewers to feel as though they were looking through a window.
The most exciting part of the experience came from attendees realizing that others within the space could also see them. This changed the from passive observers of art, into participants in it. They would often wave, smile and even dance together despite being in completely separate rooms.
We also say a number of visitors go out and start conversations with people they had seen on the other side of RIFT and eagerly demonstrating the boxes to their friends.
Our team
