Tomas Laurenzo

2009–2010

Ribbons

Ribbons is a real-time visual instrument created for maximising the expressiveness of the performer within its aesthetic paradigm.

Live-cinema instrument

Ribbons is a real-time visual instrument created for maximising the expressiveness of the performer within its aesthetic paradigm. Its design questions the basic assumption of a flat rectangle as image space by presenting a virtual three-dimensional space where the footage can be projected and deconstructed, thus adding a new dimension of expressiveness orthogonal to traditional narrative.

I worked with the following design axes: playability vs. autonomy, and expressiveness vs. narrative, aiming at creating a unique expressive instrument that allows its user to navigate the cinematic space.

The following images show captures of Ribbons's output, with a few photos of myself performing with it.

Ribbons: a performer silhouetted against an orange abstract projection.
Fragmented grey image strips in Ribbons.
Layered white angular geometry beneath a fine wireframe.
A performer in front of a radiating yellow and green projection.
Grey rectangles forming a three-dimensional cloud.
Purple and white fragmented forms beneath a wireframe mesh.
A three-dimensional cloud of white cubes beside dark wireframe geometry.
Blurred red and orange light waves in Ribbons.

The following sequence shows the video being deconstructed, with each voxel (a three-dimensional image element) acquiring a new expressive power:

A small monochrome face within a black field.
A monochrome face fragmented into points.
A face displaced into rectangular fragments in three-dimensional space.
Greyscale radial fragments surrounding a black central void.

The 2009 paper Ribbons, a live cinema instrument, presented at ISEA in Belfast, describes the design process and the instrument's usage. Ribbons was programmed with OpenFrameworks and its source code is available upon request.

Using Ribbons to perform at Panoramica 2010, in Buenos Aires.

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