Let us imagine a straight line

from Butch Rovan on Vimeo.

This was an interactive installation piece I was fortunate enough to experience for myself last October at the Cogut Center for the Hmanities, part of Brown University. Rovan has created an intense experience, full of interactivity. The first part, which I was told by the caretaker was built and programmed entirely by the artist, has you placing your hands on metal rails to measure your heart rate. It seems to "size you up" for awhile before bursting into a display of light and sound. As the video wall comes to life, the viewer is also lit up by a spotlight, this gave me the sense that I was involved with what I was seeing on the screen, though I'm not sure the video changes person to person. (several different visual effects played the various times I triggered the event.) I was told that the computer program was written by Rovan using Max MSP which is certainly a powerful enough tool to do it.

The next video wall utilizes a camera, which overlays a shadow of the viewer onto the screen. There is a short delay in the video feed, and a blurring effect which feels almost surreal, a bit like an out of body experience. This is very fitting considering the written content that appears in the viewer's negative. The telegraph sound that the narrator mentions in the video is more than just piped in sound clips. Rovan mounts the antique device on a wall inside the room. The click-clack sounds have a tangible source, and since the room is split by a hanging video screen, the dynamics of those sounds change as you move deeper into the room.

Rovan has managed an impressive level of immersion with his installation. Walking inside and experiencing the room, you get a sense that normal physics no longer apply, that you've crossed into a world of the artist's creating. somehow the lights and sounds become comfortable as you adjust to your surroundings slowly and stepping out seems more disorienting than first going inside. Check out Rovan's website to see what he's working on now, and what we'll see next from him.