Flocking Orchestra Freeware (DT1)

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:21:54 +0000

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We in the live community are software addicts. I keep staying up way too late, playing with different software. The other night, I was scanning my RSS feeds, and came across this app that didn’t sound very interesting at first… until I tried it out.

DT1 Flocking Orchestra is an interactive installation to play music by visually conducting flocking agents in the 3D virtual space. It employs flocking algorithms to produce music and visuals. The user’s motions are captured by a video camera and influence the flocks behaviour. Each agent moving in a virtual 3D space controls a MIDI instrument whose playing style depends on the agent’s state. In this system, the user acts as a conductor influencing the flock’s musical activity. In addition to gestural interaction, the acoustic properties of the system can be modified on the fly by using an intuitive GUI. The acoustical and visual output of the system results from the combination of the flock’s and user’s behaviour. It therefore creates on the behavioural level a mixing of natural and artificial reality. The system has been designed to run an a variety of different computational configuration ranging from small laptops to exhibition scale installations.

There is so much about this application that is tweakable. You can change literally every setting. It’s so cool, I was quickly addicted to it. There is an absolutely AMAZING story behind this program.

This collaborative work by Daniel Bisig in Switzerland and Tatsuo Unemi in Japan implements a mathematical model of flocking behavior that was developed in artificial life research. In its current form, it is inspired by a true story of a girl who has died from leukemia 50 years ago in Hiroshima. Her name is Sadako. She was exposed to atomic bombing when she was two years old. Her health was perfect during the nine years following the bombing. But all of the sudden she had to be hospitalised during February 1955. Lying in a hospital bed, she folding many paper cranes. According to a Japanese legend, by folding one thousand paper cranes, one’s wish becomes true. Sadly, her own wish remained unfulfilled and her life ended 50 years ago.

The images which texture the walls of the virtual space stem from photographs that one of the authors shot in 2003 at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima during a funeral ceremony of his friend. The image of the back wall depicts the Children’s Peace Monument which was established in 1958 by school classmates of Sadako. Every year, many groups of school students fold paper cranes and bring them to this monument where they swear to contribute to a more peaceful world.

Very, very cool. Be sure to check it out!

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Flocking Orchestra Freeware (DT1)

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Flocking Orchestra Freeware (DT1)