[090330] Shiftcontrol helped video artist Jacob Tækker on his latest piece 'Today I died', created for the exhibition NO PLACE TO HIDE at SNYK. The piece is Jacob's first interactive installation and was realized using the game engine Unity.

Video artist Jacob Tækker approached shiftcontrol to help realize his first ever interactive art piece, created for the surveillance themed exhibition NO PLACE TO HIDE at SNYK in early 2009. The work, entitled Today I died, examines the working situation of the artist, where every move is observed and scrutinized by an audience. As a twist to this exposed state the artist lets himself reappear in the piece, over and over again, regardless of what action the viewer has taken.

The installation was created as a computer game, where the viewer can shoot a digital version of the artist. Each time the artist is shot a new copy of him appears from the side of the screen in a seemingly endless stream. The character is walking cautiously across the screen, stopping at random points and his body language reveals that he is clearly expecting the viewer to shoot. As the artist is shot again and again, bodies are piling up in the background and a counter in the corner of the screen reveals how many times he's been shot.

Built in the game-engine Unity the piece relies heavily on the built-in physics engine for realistically simulating the character as he is shot by the viewer. The environment is a virtual 'white cube' gallery space ensuring that focus is kept on the digital version of the artist at all times. The input device for the work is a 'light-gun', an advanced pointing device commonly used in video-games which uses infrared sensors to record where the user is pointing on the screen. This helps add to the game-like experience of the installation.



The exhibition is open until 13.04.2009

Curious?
For more info on this project, please contact founding partner Patrik Svensson, +45 29 80 00 95, office@shiftcontrol.dk