Tag Archives: mirror image

Golan Levin, Chris Sugrue & Kyle McDonald Augmented Hand Series

by

The Augmented Hand Series is real-time mirror-vision installation (software system) that adds, removes and alters the length of the digits on you hand, in addition to a range of more playful modifications and exaggerations.
It brings to mind the variations of the rubber-hand illusion experiments, originally performed by Botvinick & Cohen (1998), where one arm is hidden from view (or not there at all as is the case with amputees), and a fake rubber hand is placed in its stead. The body schemata of the hidden/missing hand is activated by touching the rubber hand. Similar experiments were done by mirroring the hand. Botvinick & Cohen calls this a a three-way interaction between vision, touch, and proprioception, where the felt position of the hand is altered by the vision-touch correlation.

Rubber hand illusion
Foto: Alexander Gorlin

The rubber-hand experiments have also been done with amputees – see V.S Ramachandran research and work on mirror-vision experiments to address various phantom sensations.

Bruce Nauman’s Live-Tape Video Corridor

by

Bruce Nauman’s Live-Taped Video Corridor is a installation consisting of two montitors at the end of a corridor each featuring a video feed. The upper video feed captures the user from behind and diminishes as he or she walks towards the monitors, the bottom monitors show pre-taped footage of the same corridor, only empty.
The installation is eerie in several ways: In attempt to see herself on the top monitor, the user only ever sees herself from behind walking away from the camera eye. Oppositional movement as walking towards becomes walking away. And attempting to see the image motive clearer, makes it shrink. The bottom monitor which appear as an image, has edited out the user altogether.

Alvaro Cassinelli’s BoxedEGO

by

Alvaro Cassinelli’s Boxed Ego is an installation where the user looks into a what appears to be a peephole camera, only to be presented with a live image of themselves operating the camera. This work is an interesting mirror installation where the users get absorbed in their own mirror reflection, from an unfamiliar angle.

Brigitta Zics’ Mirror_SPACE

by

In Brigitta Zics’ Mirror_SPACE installation the users’ face is scanned in real time by infrared sensor device, and calculate mood values. This data is transformed into a virtual mirror image presented on screen. Zics also argues that “Mirror_SPACE is a system of reflections of a type which involves not only optical appearances but also forces which act on us andwhich we cannot control affecting our phenomenal image” (Zics 2005)
I find it interesting how the user is confronted with a real-time virtual interpretation of himself/herself. And also that the virtual object avatar is semi-autonomous of the user, meaning it will partly be controlled by the users movements as well as the proximity to other virtual objects.

Daniel Rozin’s Rust Mirror

by

Daniel Rozin specializes in mirror-image installations.
In Rust Mirror (2009) the mirror silhouette of the spectator is reflected onto a surface consisting of hundreds of rust steel tiles. The tiles tilt and reflect the light source producing the necessary contrast to make mirror image.

Daniel Rozin’s Penguin Mirror

by

Daniel Rozin artworks are centered around the mirror image.
In Penguin Mirror (2015) 450 stuffed penguins on rotating motors are situated on the gallery floor, offering a binary mirror image of any spectator in front of the penguin colony. Beyond being a feat of mechanical control and translation of Kinect data, I am wondering if this work stimulates reflection around one owns body image, beyond the aspect of play.

A similar work is the IRIS installation by the new media collective HYBE, where the ambient light from the spectator is translated into a matrix of 400 monochrome LEDs making the mirror image. Each LED consists of a liquid crystal fluid, which change color from white to black (circles opening and closing) dependent on the amount of light.