The People’s Zoetrope

The People’s Zoetrope is a playful interactive installation that brings the concept of a Victorian zoetrope into the digital age by combining mass participation, performance, choreography, sound, and photography to empower participants as they become an integral part of the artwork.

Audiences are invited to become the performers on the zoetrope’s stage, taking part in the installation by performing a series of simple choreographed moves. The interactive ask’s participants to mirror each stance of the choreographer with their own body position. Tracking sensors monitor the body position and once the participants stance has matched that of the choreographer their image is captured and transferred as one of the performers on the zoetrope, performing in time to the Daft Punk Technologic sound track.

Complete all of the moves in the choreographed sequence and the participants complete performance is captured as an animated performer and compiled into an animated image. Each image can be downloaded from the project website for participants to share and keep as a memento of their performance.

The Financial Times said “It’s an update of a Victorian moving-image viewer, and it’s compulsive.”