Diente Azul // שן כחולה
April 2011
Diente Azul / שן כחולה / Blue Tooth
Diente Azul @UPF from Tamar Regev on Vimeo.
Diente Azul is an installation I developed as a final project for interaction models class. At the time I was recovering from a bicycle accident that wounded my teeth and I had a new metal implanted in my jaws. This blue tooth symbolises the penetration of technology into the human body. In the technological era, developing technologies aim to capture all human practices – our bodily gestures, emotions, social interaction. But technology necessarily entails dependency, dimension reduction, relations of power and control.
In the installation, I placed motion sensors on the body of the viewer. Using the sensors, she could control the video with her bodily gestures, opening my mouth by movement, only if wanted. Motion data was transferred to the computer via bluetooth technology. In this way, I created relations of mutual control – the viewer controls the piece, but in return the piece controls the body, making viewers move in funny ways. In this way, an intimate interaction between the user and my mouth was established, exposing grotesque facial expressions dealing with the frustration of the transformation of my body after the accident.
Some snapshots from a VJ session done later with the system –
A technical diagram of the system –
The first image in the video, inviting viewers to participate in the interaction –
