Digital Kite Flying
Tue, 16 Jul 2013
There is a nice exhibition on at Phoenix at the moment that lets you go digital kite flying. The idea is that you first visit the web site at digitalkites.indiansummer.org.uk and design your kite. Then you visit the Cube Gallery at Phoenix and use the installation to "fly" your creation. The installation uses a Microsoft Kinect to track your movements in a way that is quite effective at simulating the act of kite flying. As you look over and Indian city skyline tugging on the kite's line every now and then the whole effect is rather relaxing.
I really liked the work, but think it needs a bit more refinement to really make it work well. I enjoyed the kite flying part, but found that the mechanism for selecting the kite designs a bit clunky. It involved using a computer keyboard - which to me is a no-no in an interactive artwork like this. I think some sort of gesture or touch interface would be better. Perhaps the ability to do the kite design on your mobile device would be nice too.
These are by no means major criticisms and I would encourage people to create a kite and go and fly it at the Phoenix. The exhibition runs until the 20th July, so you still have a few days to go. See my pictures of the work on Flickr.
