Reflection

The interactive installation »Reflection« by Shane Cooper consists of a projection on a wall, which like a mirror reflects the position and movements of the visitors in front of it – however, there are other people on-screen, too, people who had spent time in the installation before.
For this effect, the work accesses a pool of images all the previous visitors, who had interacted with the installation. At first, the image memory is empty; it only fills over time with the images of visitors. The more people interact with the installation, the more images of different positions and movements are collected, and this increases its ability to mimic and follow visitors in the present using images of past visitors.
The work is based on the act of observing, and only comes alive through the interaction with visitors. It starts from the position that new viewers take up, and matches this to recorded images of previous visitors, who had adopted the same or a similar pose. In this way, »Reflection« continuously expands its ability to imitate the visitors.