What is part video game, part science visualization, part art installation and part social experiment?

Today's inspiration project is another example of how the Kinect is being used to provide experiences and interactions unlike anything we've seen before (outside of the movies at least)...

<danceroom | Spectroscopy>

danceroom Spectroscopy (dS) is part video game, part science visualization, part art installation, and part social experiment.

Fusing 3d imaging and rigorous quantum mechanics, dS transforms people into energy fields and lets them wander through the nano-quantum world, where they trigger sounds and images.There’s no limit on the number of “players”, and the more they cooperate, the more engrossing it becomes.

The project is supported by Bristol University, EPRSC, and the Pervasive Media Studios. dS launched in spring 2011. Its development was facilitated by a series of workshops and a large scale public exhibition in the Summer of 2011 at the Arnolfini (Bristol, UK). The team are currently preparing to talk about dS at South by South West interactive festival (Austin, Texas).

Science

Understanding the fundamental patterns and rules that govern what matter does on the nanoscale requires insight into the strange frontier-world where classical mechanics is just starting to fade out, and quantum mechanics is just starting to kick in. On top of this, nano-systems tend to involve LOTS of atoms and molecules, with each one affecting every other one. For those attempting to fundamentally understand and predict nano-scale behavior, it gets complicated in a hurry.

Scientists dont really know what the nanoscale world looks like, but they’re obsessed with making representations anyway, whether it’s in terms of balls and sticks, blobs, terraces, cavities, ribbons, sheets, etc..

danceroom Spectroscopy (dS) is a new attempt at visualizing the nano-world, but with a twist. It puts us in the picture. People can literally step into, wander through, and interact with the nano-world. dS invites you to move, observe, play, and even dance.

Using cutting edge 3d imaging, real-time computing, and rigorous physics, dS transforms you into a real-time energy field, which in turn warps the particle dynamics of a simulated nano-world. It’s similar to the effect of a pebble dropped into a pool of water – only the pebbles get to watch themselves and the complex ripples and waves they create as they trigger sound and image to generate interactive visuals and soundscapes.

Project Information URL: http://danceroom-spec.com/

Check out this just released video [Best viewed full screen, with sound on] and related blog post, http://danceroom-spec.com/?p=496:

from Vimeo.

Also check these out (taken from the Multimedia page, http://danceroom-spec.com/?page_id=231);

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://glow-wacky.com/ & http://danceroom-spec.com/?page_id=28