The New School is a progressive university in New York City that takes a cross-disciplinary approach to education. We partnered with them to create an installation that brings that philosophy to life through a unique interaction: it takes two people to operate.
When two users approach the screen, they’re each randomly assigned a particle style and behavior that tracks with the motion of their bodies. When the particle streams collide, a reaction occurs, dramatizing the spontaneous and unpredictable breakthroughs that happen when different academic departments collaborate.
The particle logic was developed along with Kuva in WebGL and prototyped in-browser, where we could directly control the design and behaviors. We then built an 1:4 scale version of the installation in our studio, with a Kinect and a 180° camera for inputs.
After weeks of testing and refinement, the 20x12 foot installation was exhibited in the historic DUMBO arch under the Manhattan Bridge. We captured users’ reactions with a three camera set-up and created video assets that were used in New School marketing and across their social channels.