This program uses a video camera in order to track a person juggling multiple balls. The position of the balls and the person’s arms and face are detected, and may be used to trigger video and audio which respond to the way the person is juggling.

Control scripts are written in Javascript, which allows the user to fully control the output of the system.

The system has been used in performance several times. The first public performance was at Derby Juggling Club’s ‘Twaddle’ caberet night in November 2007. Recently, I performed with the system to an audience of about 500 people at Design Camp 08 in New Zealand, and demonstrated and performed with it at Creativity and Cognition 2007. I have also done several smaller performances with the system.

The performance I have most recently performed is called ‘Juggling like a Bicycle’. It is a silly comedy juggling & story-telling performance that I first developed as a standard juggling act. Adapting this kind of narrative performance to work within the juggling system is an interesting challenge, as the performance needs to be flexible to cope with audience response. It is also interesting to try and move away from the ‘pretty trails of light’ type of abstract visualisations that I’ve worked with previously into something more silly and jokey. I’ve performed this a couple of times now, and it is fascinating to see the difference in audience reaction in this less traditionally ‘artistic’ performance.

If it isn’t clear to you what this is about, have a look at the videos and maybe it will make more sense.

For more about the system, see the posts below: