Key Grip

2003

Justin Manor (US)

Change yourself and your environment—with “Key Grip,” any user can design, scratch and loop a film sequence with himself in the leading role. This installation brings together the possibilities of television, video games, and audiovisual performance in a single platform.

The “Key Grip” user is filmed by a camera and his image is then displayed on a screen. By means of a console, microphone or his own movements, he can then modify this scene any way he wants, blow it up into balls, turn it into waves or break it into blocks and let it dance across the screen.

“Key Grip” generally makes possible the manipulation of audio sequences and videos in a three-dimensional environment. For example, you can zoom into a tiny segment of a scene from any angle and at any speed, or transfer the scene into a virtual space. Time shifts and three-dimensional distortions can be done gradually or abruptly, whereby the viewer is immersed into a world that is simultaneously real and unreal. And since the performers and the audience are situated in one and the same environment, that environment can be reinterpreted in any way possible in order to accentuate particular features or to attribute new significance to them.

Since visuals created for live performances are more and more often three-dimensional and constantly becoming more complex, the input elements from video games are very well suited for this sort of manipulation, which is why an arcade gamepad is used in the installation.

“Key Grip” was realized through the support of the Siemens Artist-in-Residence Project at Ars Electronica.
The software was developed by Justin Manor at the MIT Media Lab.