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Opening of the WOW original art piece, UNITY of MOTION Archive movie
WOW has a history of releasing diverse visual art pieces over a broad range of mediums, be it video art, gallery installations, or UI/UX experiences. A common theme to“convey movement through visual means” is at the forefront our aesthetic breathing life into the images themselves via digital technology. This has always been our aim.
The origin of the word "animation," which WOW uses regularly, stems from the Latin word "anima," meaning "life" or "spirit." We insert emotions into the characters moving on the screen and feel "it totally looks like it is alive" when something dances in the wind and catches our eye because we take the phenomenon of our movement as a symbol of life itself. The present work, "UNITY of MOTION," is an interactive art piece based on the perspective that "life is found in motion itself." This piece uses animation to allow the boundaries between the living and the inorganic to be re-examined.
All things in this world, not just living beings but also minerals and other inorganic objects, are in motion. This motion happens mostly un-noticed in our daily lives, but through the lens of science and technology, we can examine the world beyond human senses. The general consensus on science and technology has not yet settled on a unified answer to the question, "What is life?" Instead, our definitions for life have become even more diverse. Since we cannot settle on a unified answer, wouldn't it be possible to simply erase the line that divides living matter from inorganic matter, and simply group everything under the commonality of "motion"? The present work unifies things with life (nature) and the non-living (machines), leading those who experience it toward a new understanding of "objects in motion." It is an interactive art piece to experience the role motion plays to unify our world and our surroundings.
[About UNITY of MOTION]
"UNITY of MOTION" is an interactive art piece based on the point of view that "life is movement itself". The piece combines nature (living matter) and machines (inorganic matter) through the beating of the human heart resulting in a new kind of existence. Comprised of three installations: HEART, NATURE and MACHINE, "UNITY of MOTION" creates an experience depicting the cycle of life and death. It is unique to every participants heart beat so the no one will experience the same result allowing for endless possibilities.
HEART (Sensor Sculpture)
A sensor which uses infrared rays to detect people's heart rate from the palm of their hands. On the top section of this structure we find a recycled piston engine, the heart of any car. This sensor sculpture is the original driving force behind UNITY of MOTION.
NATURE (Media Wall 1)
A giant monitor through which we can visualize the movements of living creatures in the natural kingdom via computer simulation. While HEART collects people's heart rate data, the movement of these projected animals, such as flocks of birds, starts to evolve. These movements are generated with an artificial life simulation program called Boids. It is set so that each individual animal's movements follow a simple set of rules, and yet this escalates into very complex behaviors.
MACHINE (Media Wall 2)
Monitors arranged in a V-shape, symbolizing mechanical motion. In standby mode, they show the intimate connection between trigonometric functions (Sin, Cos) and the circular motion made by the engine piston's movements. So, MACHINE is also connected to HEART, just like NATURE is. When HEART detects the palpitations of human beings, the repetitive cycles of motion of sine waves and cosine waves drift away and begin to embody life; they take the form of a bird or other such living creatures, flock into groups, and begin behaving in bewildering ways.
