Biennale de Mons 2023 - Monumental Interactive Artwork & Reactive Mapping
A monumental interactive artwork featured at the Biennale de Mons 2023. The piece centers around a circular floor projection zone and a central totem of vertical DMX LED tubes functioning as an interactive luminous hourglass across three dreamlike scenes.
Context & Interactive Concept
- Journey Through 3 Dreamlike Scenes: The installation takes visitors through three interactive visual chapters utilizing reveal mechanics, silhouette duplication, and concentric ripple trails underfoot.
- Floor Projection Zone & GLSL Sand Shader: A dynamic sand and fluid shader serves as a continuous visual thread across the floor, deforming in real time under visitor footsteps.
- LED Tube Totem & Virtual Hourglass: At the center, a hexagonal totem of vertical DMX LED tubes interacts with the ground, transforming into a virtual hourglass that pours luminous sand between scene transitions.
All-in-One Technical Architecture (TouchDesigner)
- Single-Camera Tracking & Real-Time Alpha Maps: An overhead camera captures audience movement, processed in TouchDesigner via blob detection to generate precise real-time alpha opacity maps.
- Generative Graphics & Floor Mapping: Alpha maps feed directly into GLSL shaders to project interactive particle waves onto the circular floor projection zone.
- DMX LED Totem Control: Pixel-mapped DMX control of the vertical LED tubes, tightly locked to ground particle dynamics.
- Unity 3D Simulation: Pre-visualized venue layout, projector throw ratios, and totem geometry in Unity to validate optical coverage before physical setup.
Technical Installation Breakdown
1. Floor Projection Zone & Single-Camera Tracking (TouchDesigner)
Challenge: Track visitor presence and movement across a large floor projection area without blind spots.
Solution: Blob detection pipeline in TouchDesigner producing a real-time alpha mask to ripple and deform GLSL sand shaders under footsteps.
2. DMX LED Hourglass Totem & Dreamlike Scenography
Challenge: Visually connect the vertical physical element (LED tubes) to the horizontal interactive projection.
Solution: Unified TouchDesigner DMX and video mapping control, driving the LED totem to simulate a virtual hourglass pouring light onto the floor between scenes.
Creators: Aurélien Merceron, Sébastien Lebon, and Pierre-Henri Wibaut.
Sound Design: Julien Bacquet.
Sound Design: Julien Bacquet.
Behind the Scenes
