Keepsake is an interactive, informative installation in the Teatro Marinoni, an abandoned and now threatened theatre on Venice’s Lido. This site-specific installation aims to resurrect, in a fragmentary and meditative way, the sights and sounds of the theatre in the 1930s, when it gave joy, serenity and fun to the patients of the neighbouring seaside hospital. The participants become keepers of the place’s memories. Through them the theatre becomes alive again and makes people aware of its value.
When someone enters the theatre…
Keepsake allows people to live a romantic and melancholic experience that, through sound and images, introduces them to the history of the theatre and its lived past.
The installation is a invisible system that is sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. When a person walks through the theatre something unexpected happens: he is surrounded by the sound of the sea and a big photo appears on all the windows. Looking through them the user is able to see the sights that characterized the place in the past.
The interaction is very intuitive: a person’s presence elicits the response of the system, requiring no intentional action.
Personal contribute
I took care about the coordination of the team in the various phases of the project development. My personal contribute for the whole process of the project was to analyse people’s behaviour and study the how our installation will interact with them as best as possible. I worked also on the code for the final prototype and I shoot and worked on video audio editing.
Iuav | Interaction design lab 2, in collaboration with Fabrizio Goglia, Fabio Nucatolo and Rita Petrilli | 2012
more info at www.interaction-venice.net