Sur La Table

March 2003

Sur la table revisits the domestic situation of the table. Events that normally occur on/over a table (the placing of objects, the eating of food, hand gestures, etc...) are amplified through projection and become the basis for interactivity, ultimately changing the visitor's relation to the table.

The installation setup is as follows: A camera is placed above the table, capturing events occurring on/over the table, which are sent to a computer, where customized software processes the image, so that non-white objects visually appear to stream their color down. This processed image is then projected back onto the table. Thus, a historic timeline of events over the table is visualized as a continuous flow of images down the table.

The installation works with a single or multiple tables. Multiple tables are networked via UDP, so that the images stream from one table flows on to another and so on. This creates the condition for an abstracted telepresence of events happening on multiple tables. These tables can be placed in proximity to one another or in geographically diverse places.

The installation also explored the notion of consumption. Brightly colored food and drink (which bleed their colors down the table) are placed on otherwise austere white tables. Visitors were encouraged to eat and drink, and in doing so consume the visually enticing elements (the colored foods) on the table, returning the tables to their blank state and thus ending the installations visually dynamic performance.

In the end, however visitors, despite their mother's best teachings, prefer to play with the food, treating the table and food elements as a dynamic Still Life, mixing colors and forms and altogether forgetting about eating.

Material: Projectors, Camera, Computer, Table

Dimensions: Variable