CLUB AUTOMATIQUE

von: Jacques Bigot, Gérard Couty, Michel Piet, Olivier Schulbaum

Club automatique is an interactive multimedia installation.
The audience's movements in the space are analyzed through a sensor system and are retransmitted and interpreted audiovisually in real time.
Such gestures, such combinations of gestures generates such sounds, which in turn play a part in the film sequence. The audience's body becomes the remote control of the picture-sound machine.
After a short introduction to the tools, the user is able to compose and play his own music piece, synchronized and translated with the plastic environnement.

Club automatique takes place in public spaces such as clubs, galleries or media events. The audience stands in front of the retroprojection.
The interactive space is highlighted by a light spot. As soon as the user has entered into the interactive zone, the camera system immediatly responds to the user's impulsions by generating accoustic pictures.
Five different sensors or pulsors are set in the room. These sensors correspond to the 5 common functions of a remote control (play, ffw, rew, pause, stop...). A control monitor gives the user a visualization of his actions interaction with the programme and gives him the possibility to take contol of the picture and sound synthetizer.
Experimenting with a corporal alphabet is necessary to activate the digital machine and to create a personnal dialogue with it.
For example, jumping up would give a more dramatical effect than waving the hands in the air. Standing close to the sensors will create greater intimicy with the machine and will vary the sounds in a softer way. In a way, the user creates through the dialogue with the machine his own "bodylyrics" and his own "bodyicons".
Also the machine starts to speak and tell non linear stories. More and more words and sentences appear in the form of type and graphic signs. Like a video game, the programme allows an upgrading of different steps and levels, and gives access to more and more complex combinations.
The user is able to choose a basic sound, a tempo, an ambiance, a beat or a certain sequence- and modulate it. His voice can also be recorded and can appear as an additional musical tool. All these options can be recycled and looped. An external access to the network, usergroup and interactive workshops is also possible. The user also has access to a freestyle function and a random function, he can mix all these different sources as he would do in a proper sound studio.
In terms of the pictures, the user plays a virtual keyboard, using a combination of video sequences, animation clips, pictures, signs and texts which he can modify with different effects tools. These effects are synchronized with the musical tempo. The user also contols and commands 5 cameras integrated in the databank pictures. A streaming connection is also possible.
This interface between the human and the machine requires a physical and playfull implication of the user. Therefore, the more the user wants to make the machine react, the more he has to move his own body.
The user becomes a dancer. He dances with the machine, he choregraphs the stage effects, he composes and directs the music. When the machine is no longer activated (meaning no user in the interactive zone anymore), it switches to a standby position , tuning repeatitive and monotonous sounds and pictures.

Club automatique is more a machine in the way that it prefers to play with a single partner, but it can also be easyly adapted to work with a whole group of people. The command becomes more hazardous as it is more difficult to know who does what.

When used with a group, Club automatique looses its introspective ability to be a one to one interface, but this is replaced by fun and entertainment.

Key words
Cultural studies. Cross-over. Polymorphous experimentation. Dancing with my self. X-press your self. Surfer. Monade urbaine. Citoyen terminal. Stelarc. Iconographie gestuelle, alphabet visuel. Travail à domicile. Prothèses. Interface. Folklore digital. Sampler, copier-coller, annuler la frappe (undo).Ogoun Ferail. Digital spirit. Professional human being.

Crew Club Automatic
Jacques Bigot
Gérard Couty
Michel Piet
Olivier Schulbaum