Jumping Rope


'Orna Portugaly Orna Portugaly / 'Daphna Talithman Daphna Talithman / 'Sharon Younger Sharon Younger

The Rope project integrates a familiar playground game with the computerized world. Characters turning a rope are projected onto two opposite screens. The participants are invited to stand in the area between the two screens (the game zone) and jump. The participants are able to see on the screens that the characters are holding and turning a rope. The middle part of the rope does not exist; therefore the participants have to visually imagine the rope in order to jump on time.

The success or failure of the participants is monitored by a camera serving as a sensor, using video tracking technology. If they manage to synchronize their jump with the (virtual) rope, the characters encourage them and continue to turn the rope. When they fail to synchronize their jumps, the characters react to their failure.
The installation consists of three different scenarios, each of them featuring a different situation, in which two characters turn the rope. The aim of the situations is to return the participant to a state where he functions as a “child” (young or adult) and finds himself “trapped” between two characters, each character with his/her own nature, sensitivities and expectations. The different scenes blur the boundaries between the world of adults and the world of children and cast an ironic spotlight on parents-children relationships and on childhood memories. In the Jumping Rope installation the viewers become a part of the cinematic situation and their jumping enables the scenario to progress and the plot to develop.

The installation creates integration between the physical and virtual worlds.
The characters turning the rope are projected on screens, yet the interaction and rules belong to the original game and preserve its physical aspects.
The installation is suitable for one or several participants.