"Body Paint" is currently being shown at the Victoria & Albert museum as part of the V&A + onedotzero curated Decode exhibition, and also at the Millenium Gallery as part of Lovebytes' Code:Craft.

“Body Paint” by Mehmet Akten is an interactive installation and performance allowing users to paint on a virtual canvas with their body, interpreting gestures and dance into evolving compositions. A full-body instrument you can play with, and create something beautiful.

The interaction is very simple, movement creates paint. Hidden in the simplicity, are layers of subtle details. Different aspects of the motion: size, speed, acceleration, curvature all have an effect on the outcome: strokes, splashes, drips, spirals; and is left up to the users to play and discover. The installation is designed to work with any number of people and is scalable to cover small or large areas. While the installation is suitable for a single user, when multiple users are present a new dynamic emerges. A user-to-user interaction is born when the audience start playing with each other via the installation, throwing virtual paint on each other, trying to complete or destroy each others paintings.

An iPhone / iPod / iPad adaptation of the installation can be downloaded from www.pollockforiphone.com

Technical information

Custom software analyses images from infra-red cameras in real-time, and converts motion into colors, drips and brush-strokes. The software was written in C++ using the open-source toolkit openFrameworks. While the early versions of Body Paint used the open-source computer vision library OpenCV for motion analysis, the current software uses a custom vision library based on the OpenCL technology for greater performance with a more detailed motion analysis resulting in a smoother, more sensitive and more believable experience.

Excerpts from performance at “Clicks or Mortar”, Tyneside Cinema, March 2009
curated by Ed Carter / The Pixel Palace, http://www.thepixelpalace.org

designed & created by Mehmet Akten, http://www.memo.tv
choreography & performance by Miss Martini, http://www.myspace.com/maleficentmartini
music "Kill me" by Dave Focker, http://www.myspace.com/davefocker

Many thanks to Tyneside Cinema for hosting the event - Clicks or Mortar, Ed Carter for organizing it, and the countless technicians and staff (especially Richard Bate and Sarah Bayliss who worked extra hard and took no shortcuts in getting it setup perfectly).