Martin Bircher

content

| saitensprung-online.ch
| «die Hand kann nicht»
| Studie für Martin, 25
| KEEP THE FACE!

works

www.saitensprung-online.ch
the interactive dilemma of solitude

Word-sound-installation with violin, winter 2006/2007

Cooperation with Eva Borner

This project was exhibited in Bern, (Switzerland) 3. March – 2. June 2007.

Installation

www.saitensprung-online.ch is on one end a web page, from which anybody can submit a sentence from anywhere, and on the other end a electro mechanical installation in a exhibition room.
The submitted words are immediately translated into a sound scheme by a programme and played by a real violin.
The audience in the installation room does not know from whom the sentences, which are also projected on a screen, are sent – neither the sender gets a feedback from the installation.

For this project I used PHP and the open source tools Wiring and Processing.

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«die Hand kann nicht»
«the hand is not able to»

Interactive installation with an artist’s hand model and Super 8 projection
Art project, summer 2005

Cooperation with Irene Naef for the exhibition «gesehene Worte» in the Langenthal Art Hall (Switzerland).

Die hand kann nicht
eine linie auf eine andere zeichnen
und alle punkte in übereinstimmung bringen.
aber manchmal kann es der zufall.
dasselbe geschieht mit der stimme und den wörtern,
mit dem gesicht und seiner mimik,
mit dem leben und den menschen

der zufall ist eine sichere hand.

Poem by Roberto Juarroz

Installation

An artist’s hand model is displayed on a base, with a spot light from above.
If someone touches the hand, the spot is been switched of and a small light bulb, which seems to project the hand’s shadow on the wall, is switched on. But the visible shadow is moving and comes from a film projector which is on the other side of the room.
The shadow recite Roberto Juarroz’s poem in the manual alphabet.

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Studie für Martin, 25

Interactive string puppet self portrait in scale 1:3,
Graduation theses, spring 2003

Installation

A wooden string puppet, manufactured in scale 1:3 after the model of my own body is displayed in a box.
The puppet sleeps while it is sitting on a chair. The audience can interact with it via a touch screen and the puppet is operated with about over 20 servo motors.

This project has more a experimental character. The Puppet is responding to the user input according to a programmed emotional model.
Even though the programmed model was working fine, it was very hard to express the mental state of the Puppet mechanically.

I have been inspired by the mechanical androids of father and son Jaquet-Droz and this old swiss tradition.

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KEEP THE FACE!
the dummy-projekt

Interactive video installation with crash test dummy,
Student project, spring 2001

Installation

The installation consists of a pair boxing gloves, a wood socle where a RESET button is mounted, a video projector and a Crash test dummy.
The video projection shows one out of 24 photos of a face.
At the beginning the recipient is requested to put on the boxing gloves and to strike hard into the dummy‘s face. With each impact the picture of the projected face changes slightly. It changes into a average unisex face which has been generated out of the 24 initial faces (12 male and 12 female). When pressing the push button the projection is resetting to a new initial face (alternating a female and a male.) The button remains inactive after a RESET, until the first few impacts arrived, so that the recipient cannot select between the faces.

Media

Digital photo camera and 24 faces,
Adobe Photoshop, Elastic Reality 3.11,
Apple QuickTime 4.0, Macromedia Director 7,
Electronics tools

Pair of boxing gloves,
crash test dummy and welded rack to attach the dummy,
acceleration sensor, electronic circuit, push button,
converted Mac keyboard, USB to ADB adapter,
various cables,
PowerBook G3 500Mhz with 500MB RAM,
video projector with roll rack

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