Bar Code Hotel

At the exhibition from September 1, 2018 to June 2, 2019

Perry Hoberman’s Bar Code Hotel is an interactive multi-user installation. Laid out in the installation space, visitors encounter innumerable bar codes. They stand for both the virtual objects within the installation as well as the respective actions that can be assigned to these objects. Wearing 3-D glasses, visitors can make the objects visible by touching the bar codes with a wand, a lightweight pen, and they appear as 3-D projections on the wall. The objects, like a dog, teddy bear, piece of cheese, or loaf of bread, all possess preprogrammed behaviors and personalities, but can also be controlled within the virtual space by means of the bar code strips that users can scan. Some trigger movements, whilst others determine the interaction between two or more objects. This enables visitors to influence the movement, sound, color, and behavior of an object.

The bar code, which is normally a means of identifying, quantifying, and managing flows of consumer products, is employed here in a playful fashion to create an unruly, dynamic, and unpredictable 3-D world that depends on the decisions and inclinations of its users.

Programming, sound: Glen Fraser
Programming: John Harrison
Sound: Dorota Blaszczak