"RE: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is a responsive environment seeking to enhance atmosphere in an event venue through the use of spatially-aligned interactive projections, generative atmospheric music and sound effects.


Activity in the physical space (presence and motion of the 'audience') is translated in generative visuals, distorted in time and space. These real-time motion graphics are mixed together live with an animated video-piece of three chapters, providing a basic storyline and base texture. The final projection will be video-mapped to blend in with the physical environment, affecting the mood of the event space over time.

The environment will always be in motion but never random or out of sync with the audience by responding to the activity in the venue. Indirect interaction is the key here: instead of pretending direct input/manipulation conventional to interactive walls and multitouch interfaces, this work reserves a much more casual role for its ‘participants’ - who’s in charge? Over time though, hidden patterns might emerge...


This "RE:" is the first episode in a series of ambient environments. The latter half in the title of the work (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) refers to the movie that inspired the current theme around a displaced sense of freedom, floating driftless in an unknown universe, between dream and reality, deep sea and outer space.