High above Udaipur

High above Udaipur is an interactive kite flying and kite designing installation. Commissioned for the An Indian Summer festival in Leicester the immersive installation in Phoenix Square’s cube gallery transforms the visitor to the roof tops above the city of Udaipur in India.

Looking out above the roof tops the user can hear the bustling streets and continuous streams of traffic that pass below interspersed with bird song and insects in the midday heat. Two kites anchored on the terrace in front of them fly about in the wind. As the viewer approaches the installation body tracking sensors pick up the position of their hands and they are given control of one of the kites. The visitor is then free to fly the kite within the installation. A flag positioned in front of them informs the user of the wind direction as it swirls and changes direction and magnitude affecting the path of their kite.

Visitors were able to design their own kites at the installation and also on the festivals website via a custom drawing application. Once designed and submitted the participant’s kite could be selected and flown above the city.

The installation also used a horizontal parallax effect to enable the users to pan across the city. As the kites flew to the left or right extremes the cityscape would move with them giving a great sense of the city and their position on the roof tops.