Big Brother Is Tickling You

I just found out about a great public art project by London-based artist and interaction designer Chris O’Shea. He uses a giant LED screen to create a pretty strange Augmented Reality-like installation entitled Hand From Above. Inspired by Land of the Giants and Goliath, Hand From Above encourages the passers-by “to question our normal routine when we often find ourselves rushing from one destination to another”. O’Shea captures live video from a camera filming people on the street, and adds an extra layer showing a giant hand that tickles, stretches, flicks and removes unsuspecting pedestrians.

O’Shea makes use of the programming environments openFrameworks and openCV, which are both freely available. Hand From Above will be screened in Cardiff from 22 to 24 October. I highly recommend watching the video below which was shot last September in Liverpool. You’ll find out how surprised the passers-by are, and almost feel like they are really touched by Big Brother. Great.