Histographic Self Portrait from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This was a project in development for my senior level drawing course with Iain Baxter& at the University Of Windsor. The project was to create a self portrait.
I have had a recent interest in Max/MSP/Jitter and thought to use the histograph abilities, taken from a live camera. I used ‘face detect’ from Open.CV to detect a person, which starts the rapid flow of colours as the screen projects the histograph one colour band at a time. The face detects also allows only one person to start the projection, if two or more faces are detected the projection will stop.
Music:
Boards Of Canada – 747
Laura walking by the camera/projection.
Kevin trying out the ways the installation senses the viewer.
Kevin waving.
The PS2 “EyeToy” camera that is attached to the laptop via USB.
The camera observes and then translates into a histogram.
The change of colour changes the feeling of the whole room.
A picture of the laptop running the Max/MSP/Jitter patch for the Histographic Self Portrait. I could also change the rate of colour change, sensitivity to light and etc. within the patch.
Histographic Self Portrait
Stephen Surlin 2011
This project came from an assignment to make a self portrait in Iain Baxter&’s drawing class at the University of Windsor. I have been using the program Max/MSP/Jitter quite often and came across the ability to display a cameras input pixel by pixel, similar to the way colour is displayed in a horizontal band of separated colour, or a histograph. The overwhelming sensation brings the viewer into a subdued state, creating the feeling of being washed over by the colour. The experience for some is even “transcendental”, seeming similar to the overwhelming light that might occur moments before death.
Special thanks to my friends Kevin and Laura.
