noemaflux

noemaflux
Troy Innocent & Indae Hwang 2010
corflute, AR markers, mixed media, software and custom mobile device with sound

In noemaflux, we are interested in creating new experiences of urban space and different ways of seeing the city. The title expresses this meaning. ‘noema’ relates to the ‘act of perceiving’ in phenomenological experience. ‘flux’ refers a state of constant shift and change. This term expresses the experience of being in a mixed reality where perception is changed via digital interventions into the real world.

noemaflux : an urban habitat for artificial life via mixed realities from Troy Innocent on Vimeo.

Players use mobile devices to explore streets and laneways and find augmented reality (AR) markers integrated into the urban environment. These act both as signposts that indicate the space of the work and as gateways into the artificial world. The symbols themselves are both elements of an invented language (that of the Micronation of Ludea) and machine-readable AR markers, thereby have dual meaning. By interacting with the work, players enter into a symbiotic relationship with the artificial lifeforms in this world.

In noemaflux familiar urban spaces are reinvented and inscribed with new meaning via a mixed reality. In this new space, the main street and adjoining laneways of the city of Ogaki are populated by media creatures from the Micronation of Ludea. Discover these creatures by finding AR markers hidden in the streets. As you move about the city you carry digital seeds that pollinate each site creating a crossmedia ecology that connects people, urban spaces, signs and digital systems. The work explores the connections between artificial systems such as language and natural processes abundant in life.

Exhibited at ‘Product as New Art’ at the Ogaki Biennale 2010. This project has been developed as part of the Artist in Residence program at IAMAS in Gifu, Japan. Thanks to Yosuke Kawamura, Atsuhito Sekiguchi, Daichi Misawa and Mitsuya Watanabe.