Kurosh ValaNejad; Research Artist: The Body Scrub Device

The Cinematic and Performing Arts are converging. The Body Scrub device is a tool for performer and media-makers interested in creating for this hybrid medium. Broadly, this device correlates Space and Time. It 'spacializes' animation enabling the user-participant to scrub through video using their body. More specifically, it uses the distance to any object within its 12-foot sensing range to determine its corresponding frame from the inputted animation sequence (Example filters are shown as gifs below). The resulting Interactive Animation amplifies body language while providing anonymity. When used in site-specific installations it encouraging spectators to become the spectacle. And on stage in multimedia performances, it returns control of the audience experience to performers.

User Calibration with Countdown Filter

Media: Interactive InstallationHardware: ToF sensor, CPU (Windows10 OS)
Software: Unity, Zigfu, Photoshop, After Effects
Image Dimensions: Adjustable
Image Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Native, Stretched or cropped for 16:9
Required Space: 8-12 ft. wide X 8-12 ft. deep x 8 ft. tall

Development Team:
Code: Todd Furmanski
Art Assets: Nesli Erten
Advisor: Dr. Vangelis Lympouritis

KuroshValaNejad made the Body Scrub device in 2013 as a class assignment in CTAN 462: Visual Effects - taught by Eric Hanson. Its inaugural exhibition was at Mike Patterson and Candace Reckingier’s Rhythms and Visions 2, a Visions and Voices event. Along with Kurosh's installation (Body Scrub; LEGO) Associate professor Christine Panushka (In Memoriam) and MFA Candidate Nesli Erten (Blooming Flower) also used the Body Scrub device in their interactive installation at the event. Kurosh presented the idea at the Whole Body Interaction club meeting. It was coded by Todd Furmanski, iMA+P Ph.D candidate and associate researcher at the Game Innovation Lab. Nesli Erten created art for testing during development. And it was tuned thru iteration during crits in CTAN 462. 3 years and 24 installations after it was first shown, Body Scrub; LEGO was acquired by The Strong National Museum of Play for a long-term exhibit, Field of Play.

Gender Filter

Student Installations can be seen here.
Printer-friendly, text-only, exhibit history can be viewed, downloaded and printed here.
EXHIBITION HISTORY

Gender, MoogFest (2016)
Provoked by House Bill 2H; the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act ( a.k.a. Bathroom Bill)
Immersive Media and Durational Performances
1st Floor Bathrooms, Carolina Theater, North Carolina

Reviews:
Noisey; VICE Music Channel, Rave Inspired Art Project Breaks Down Gender
Electronic Ladyland; Moogfest’s quest to Equalize
Consequence of Sound, 8 performances to pair with panels (pg3)

Gender, USC Cinema Faculty Retreat (2014)
Public Bathrooms, 3rd Floor, Interactive Media Bldg, USC Cinema School Complex

What Makes a Monster (of You)? Doheny Memorial Library (2015)

Monster Morph filter

Interactive Exhibition Banner
Treasure Room, USC Doheny Memorial Library
7' tall x 5' wide x 1" thick glass
Rear Projection Screen

Review:
USC Cinema News
SCA Students Interpret "What Makes a Monster?"

USC Libraries Dean, Catherine Quinlin, Reception for the panel talk. Moments before, I briefly met Dean Quinlin for the first time, where she made me an honorary librarian.

Wise Words (for the Modern Girl), Wonderland Unbound (2014)
USC Doheny Memorial Library, LA, CA
Architectural Projection
4 projectors, 200 ft. wide x 50 ft. tall

Try Me, Wonderland Unbound Exhibition (2014)
USC Doheny Memorial Library, LA, CA
Interactive Installation, 6 ft H x 6 ft W x 12 ft D
Vertical Projection, 5ft H x 3.5 ft W
Playing Cards

Try Me filter

Installation at Doheny Library

Installation Test at the Game Lab Click This Text to See Movie

Chorus Line of Strippers, The Sideshow of the Absurd by Pamela Joseph (2013)

Fine Arts Center of Colorado Springs, CO

Rear Projection with Dancer casting shadow
10ft. wide x24 ft. deep x 8ft. tall

Red Translucent Dice, Redefining Animation (2013)
Society of Animations Studies Conference, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA

Red Dice filter

Body Scrub; LEGO (2013)

- Field of Play, (2016) The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY
- LA Game Space curates arcade at Ghosting (2014) Experimental Animation and Games, LA, CA
- Opening of Interactive Media Building, (2014) USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA
- IndieCade Showcase at E3 (2014) Electronic Entertainment Expo, Los Angeles, CA
- BedrOcktober Fest, (2014) Bedrock Studios, Los Angeles, CA
- Society of Animations Studies Conference (2013), USC
- Rhythms and Visions 2 (2013) a USC Visions and Voices, event

Body Scrub Lego was inspired by Lego Dance (2013) by Annette Jung

Coda for Firebird Rising, 2013

Ballet, circus acrobatics, puppets, and even a stilt-walker merge under the artistic direction of Stephen Hues at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, CA. Firebird Rising is a high-octane musical mash-up of Stravinsky and electronic dance music, synced to enormous projections, with the Body Scrub device implemented for its Coda.