Interactive Installation
Hyperscratch ver.9 200 bells
1999

This is an interactive installation in which one can control light and sound by moving one's hand within a certain space.

European Media Art Festival 99 ,Osnabruck,Germany

There is an invisible three-dimensional interface before the participant. Within the interface are eight horizontal rows, five vertical rows at two levels, front and rear, of invisible switches 200 in total, which the participant can control by "touching" the switches which operate the light and sounds from a device in front. Before the participant is a frame 8' in height, 13' wide, and 8' deep in which there are arranged again 200 (8/5/5) copper pipes with motors and light bulbs. As the participant "touches" the invisible switches the pipe which corresponds to that switch emits sound and a light comes on.The movement of the hand is captured by cameras to the front and side of the participant and sent to the computer as location information through the Hyperscratch Controller (original device) after which it is converted into MIDI signals, which in turn by the MIDI relay driver turns the switch on or off, causing the light bulbs to turn off and on,and activate the motor to hit the copper pipe to make sounds.


This endeavors to develop an interface which anyone can operate at will, freely in a three-dimensional space, as well as produce such an interface which emits light and sound.

The interface exists within a three-dimensional space and enables the participant to operate the devices without using one's hands; freely and unhampered. Furthermore, the objects to be operated are spread out in a three-dimensional space and provides the participant with a new experience, namely to operate a mechanized device in a separate place. The activated sound is not made by a computer but the sound of a copper pipe hit by a motor accompanied by a flashing light, and will be a refreshing change to the ears of people accustomed to hearing computerized or digitalized sound.Computers and digitalized equipment is used to detect hand movement and activate the light and sound, but is not seen by the participant. The theme of this object is the physical movement of the participant's hand and the simple but meaningful sound of the copper pipe, and the light. This expresses and symbolizes my personal philosophy that computers andother high-tech equipment, as it supports our daily lives, should not have a strong visual presence.

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