conversation
This experiment is in an extension of Screen as Analogue Feedback. By using digital screens and their in-built webcams, this experiment explores the visual effects of different input and output in video feedback loops. It involved rotating, shifted and moving computers. It also involved repositioning myself with the screen, altering my bodily relationship to the display.
Results
Chat 1 - Laptop to laptop
As you can tell by our reactions that the purple effect when we rotated the laptops was unexpected. I’m not 100% sure what caused that effect to occur, but it might be something to do with the polarising on the screens.
Chat 2 - Laptop to mobile
Holding a mobile phone up to the laptop’s webcam. Unlike in the previous conversation, the screens were not autonomous in creating unusual and unexpected patterns. For this radial design to appear, the mobile phone must sit at a specific angle to the webcam.
Try at home
It is simple to recreate this experiment at home using the webcam here. You will need two screens, both with camera functionality. Rotate, move, angle, shake, tilt the displays with each other. You may record the screens or act of moving the screens. Try using different pairings of screens to experiment. How do different input and output sources affect the final visual outcome?