Body Collective
A playful photo booth composites visitor portraits with artwork from a museum’s collection and archives the results for the community to browse.
This free-standing installation in the Portland Art Museum was deployed in concert with the museum’s exhibition Marking Portland: the Art of Tattoo. Integrated into an alcove adjacent to one of the busiest thoroughfares in the museum, this two-sided experience literally merges the museum’s community and collection. On a large display on the inner side of the unit visitors walk up and see themselves with details of artwork blended onto their likeness. A row of scrolling thumbnails lets visitors browse and select the artwork they want to see on themselves. After a few seconds an image is captured of the composite and added to the Body Collective collection where it can be viewed on the outer side of the unit. On this screen visitors can browse through thumbnails of every image captured since the exhibition opened to observe the playful convergence of art and audience.
Press & Awards
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HOW, Interactive Design Awards, Outstanding, Kiosks, 2010
“One of the traditions of visiting a museum, for better or worse, has been to be hands-off with the artwork, creating a separation between art and visitor...this installation breaks down that metaphor, merging the collection with the community.”
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Communication Arts, Interactive Design Annual, Experimental, 2010
“A nice blend of design and technology, this experience does an excellent job of immersing the user in the content of the museum exhibit in a unique and wonderful way. Simple, yet engaging in its approach, it does one thing extremely well.”
- Rosey Awards, Winner, Interactive Advertising/Kiosks, 2009
- Rosey Awards, Judges Favorite, 2009
Credits
- Lead Designer
- Christian Bannister
- Technology Director
- Thomas Wester
- Developer
- Vance Feldman
- Hardware and Engineering
- Matt Arnold
- Production Artist
- Rebecca Rosen
- Production/QA Assistant
- Elizabeth Bourke