Frisson
June 2019
Culturevirus Photo Booth
Culturevirus Photo Booth
July 2012
Custom video arcade console with custom software and network feeds. In collaboration with Brent Watanabe during our tenure at Superfad, fabrication by Metrix:Create Space. Curated by artist Cait Willis and Ghost Gallery gallerist Laurie Kearney.
code interactive network sculpture“A meme is an idea that behaves like a virus–that moves through a
population, taking hold in each person it infects.” – Malcolm Gladwell
An arcade console that finds your face and puts someone else’s face on it, then makes an animated GIF and uploads it to Tumblr. Debut of the photo booth was at the Narwhal room, below Unicorn, during Capitol Hill Block Party 2012.
The feed of it’s output is here: culturevirus.tumblr.com
The console has no hands-on controls or instructions, rather it uses a webcam embedded above the screen to recognize faces. Faces are then captured and stored in a database. On occasion it sees things as being faces that are not actually faces. Previously saved faces are then randomly selected and placed on the current viewers faces. Additionally a set of venue specific iconography is added to the viewers likeness. In the case of the CHPB version these included sparkly unicorn horns and fancy top hats.
The console was designed in Adobe Illustrator and cut on a CNC router and etched with a laser cutter. Electronics include a CRT monitor, mini CPU and webcam. Software was written in processing using a combination of video, OpenCV, GIF and network libraries.
