An Interactive Earth
Control the fate of the earth by manipulating the parameters 'nature', 'development', 'control' and 'chaos'. These parameters are intrinsically linked; as development increases nature decreases. Only when the parameters are in balance can harmony occur.

Over the past few years 'The Earth' has traveled all over Aotearoa visiting light festivals , galleries and events. Get in touch if want to know more!

Built in collaberation with Jon Baxter @ Perceptual Engineering using Touchdesigner and Flame... (more info below)

earthboy.jpg

full nature / full chaos

balanced development / balanced control

balanced development / full chaos

Int-earth.000007.jpg

high development / balanced chaos


We used Lemur running on an iPad, which sent OSC signals to Ableton Live for the sound, and to Touch Designer which controlled the visuals. 25 flat, loopable earth states where wrapped onto a spinning sphere in Touch Designer which, due to dissolving between multiple quicktimes, gave a smooth interactive experience as the audience used the faders to control the world. The resulting image was projected using a 5k projector. A matching interactive stereo sound design was created in Ableton Live, using using Lemur's onboard logic to covert the interactive data into usable information.

"The driving force for me was the concept of balance. We cannot have our cake and eat it. We must take responsibility for action. I wanted to make an interface for the earth that demonstrated this."

Concept / Visual Design and animation
Jon Baxter

TouchDesigner / Interactive Design
Puck Murphy

Interactive sound design
Peter Hobbs

Illustration
Dvir Gilboa
Bev Eng

Mathematics Consultant
Mike Robinson

Conceptual Consultants
Keith and Armagan Ballantyne

Projection
Spyglass

Western Park and Dowse Gallery Installation Team
Kathryn Taylor
Andy Cave

This is the ipad interface that the audience used to control the earth.

Touch Designer screen grab

Media was created in a 5x5 matrix, the vertical parameter represents control <-> chaos, the horizontal development <-> nature