H-Stream

The context
Established in 2005 in the picturesque lakeside town of Revine Lago, Lago Film Fest is an independent research film festival. A festival that focuses on the future of cinema through its magnifying glass on short films and develops through competition films, thematic focuses, workshops, days dedicated to film professionals and the expanded creativity of the Borgo.

Human-Stream
Human-Stream (H-STREAM), relates the flows and movement of water to the flow of spectators that fill the village during the days of Lago Film Fest.
Aiming to come up with an installation that could engage the festival visitors, Plam first analyzed the context of the lake in its fluid dimension, and later, the film theme.
Both are important features of the event.
From the water-light combination came H-Stream, a device consisting of an undoscope with an electric motor, a motion sensor and a camera.

The undoscope is an instrument for producing waves in liquids and highlighting their patterns through light, studying their motion and how they react fluidly to external “limits/boundaries” or “bodies.” Specifically, it is a tool often used to visualize the behavior of sound propagation in space through the relationship between light and water.
In this context, a mechanical undoscope was designed and built, activated by the passage of festival visitors through a motion sensor. The machine in action generates a Doppler effect in a transparent tank filled with water from the Lake and, simultaneously, projects shadows and luminous visual effects into the environment, captured by a video camera and returned via monitor.

In this way, it is the user who, when passing in front of the optical sensor, activates the machinery and brings the movement to life, becoming the protagonist of the projection on the screen as he or she observes it. The motion sensor, in fact, is positioned in front of the monitor, so as to ensure continuous movement for the duration of the viewer's stay.
The simultaneity of the experience, prompts the visitor to discover the behind-the-scenes, to look for the machine and the sensor, but is prevented from seeing the installation in action without external collaboration.
In a kind of butterfly effect, in which each action corresponds to another in a delocalized place, the installation invites waiting for the flow, for the passage of other people, who can “give life” to the projections of shadows with concentric, aquatic and luminous shapes.

In this sense, the user-machine interaction, and the vibration generated by it, displaces water, which becomes the synonym for light.
The installation is a tribute to the Lago Film Fest metaphor for the relationship between lake, water, and film projections, light.

Technical details of the undoscope
An electric motor, driven by a motion sensor, moves a metal arm that generates a vibration in the transparent tank filled with water. A flashlight, placed under the tub, illuminates the liquid, generating light reflections on the ceiling of the room. The scene is captured by a video camera that shows the behavior of the waves live on a monitor installed outside the room itself.

The realized undoscope was temporarily set up inside a house in the heart of the village as well as the festival, freely accessible to visitors.
The motion sensor was placed externally so that it captures the comings and goings of people and activates with each passage, producing a mechanical sound, capturing the visitor's attention. The images created by the movement of the water and recorded by the camera, can be viewed in the vertically placed screen facing a window. The viewer can then decide whether to continue interacting with the sensor or move and observe the machine up close.