Abstract

Remote Interactive Graffiti

We present an installation that allows distributed internet participants to "draw" on a public scene using light. The iLight system is a camera/projector system designed for remote collaboration. Using a familiar digital drawing interface, remote users "draw" on a live video image of a real-life object or scene. Graphics drawn by the user are then projected onto the scene, where they are visible in the camera image. Because camera distortions are corrected and the video is aligned with the image canvas, drawn graphics appear exactly where desired. Thus the remote users may harmlessly mark a physical object to serve their own their artistic and/or expressive needs. We also describe how local participants may interact with remote users through the projected images. Besides the intrinsic "neat factor" of action at a distance, this installation serves as an experiment in how multiple users from different locales and cultures can create a social space that interacts with a physical one, as well as raising issues of free expression in a non-destructive context.