Client: Canada art Council, Optech, CRSNG, André-Laurendeau College

Overview

Chantre’s œuvre finds inspiration in our relation with internet data and their geographic locations; our 21st century transportation. Realized in collaboration with the technology research institute, Optech, Le traceur immobile reveals the subtle collaboration woven into a canvas that we assume is individual, but remains ever more complex and collective in a global world. Technique: Acrylic, aluminum, video projector, cloud computing, Internet bot, tablet, visual generative software, TouchDesigner
Dimensions: 91 x 91 x 274 cm 30 x 30 x 121cm / 3 x 3 x 9 feet 1 x 1 x 4 feet

Goals

Depicted as an immobile Parkour athlete, and connected to the Web, this interactive light sculpture is destined to eternally travel the internet. Bounding through hyperlinks, the tracer (Internet bot) vaults across global servers, landing at destinations of the public’s choice before generating a unique light display based on the server’s IP address. In this way, the artwork simultaneously shapes virtual and physical spaces. The illuminated interior changes in real-time, following the model’s passage through cyberspace, alluding to the universality of the web and, consequently, the social and political repercussions of this form of interaction.Since the beginning of art history, the modes of transportation are represented across artwork; as horses, trains, cars and planes.
For Le traceur Immobile Chantre tough about the 21st century principal mode of transportation; the Internet. When we surf on the Internet we travel across the world, but our body stays immobile.
The interactive artwork simultaneously shapes virtual and physical spaces by creating a relation between the public, the bot and the geographic structure of the Internet.

Process

The innovative approach was driven by the idea of creating a volumetric
video projection such as a beem light in a haze. Instead of projecting on
the surface as we see for the mapping video, the projection is also inside
the volume. A new material have been developed with optic scientist of OPTECH, an optic research center. The material allow reflection and translucence for each plane.

Additional Information

Press and documentation – Article, Hackcité 375, Le traceur immobile, Montreal (CA) 2017 – Article, Le messager, Le traceur immobile, La Salle, Montreal (CA) 2017 – Article, Optech, Le traceur immobile, La Salle, Montreal (CA) 2017 – Mention, Cegep André-Laurendeau, Le traceur immobile, Montreal (CA) 2017 Crédits: Realized in collaboration with Optech, a centre for technology transfer in optics/photonics. Concept, interactive visual,user interface design, system design, interactive scenario, technical drawing CAD, production: Manuel Chantre. M-art productions Inc. This project was made possible with the support of Canada Council for the Arts, Optech CCTT, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Cégep André-Laurendeau, college