Tandem Flight
Audience participatory video and animation installation. Since 2012.
Tandem Flight is an audience participatory video project that combines cartoon animation with video footage. In the artpiece audience members are invited to venture behind the screen and assume the role of the characters projected on the front by putting their faces into holes that are cut in the screen.
The idea was inspired by musings about free will and self determinism in the context of variables that are predetermined by chance, karma, or other factors. Since so much of life seems out of a person's control, it becomes easier when we imagine that we are more or less interchangeable characters playing out archetypal roles in a larger production rather than insular individuals with completely distinct personalities. More than the size of the role in the story, our decision to throw ourselves into that role with gusto is what determines the quality of our experience.
Tandem Flight first appeared at the Gladstone Hotel for Nuit Blanche 2010.
Tandem Flight front and back of the screen from Happy Sleepy on Vimeo.
This video shows two girls being photographed by their mom.
The characters and flying tandem bicycle were drawn and animated in flash, and the background video was shot all over Los Angeles looking backwards at a 3/4 angle out a car window. The animation and footage was then composited in AfterEffects and exported as one film.
Stills from an early version of the animation.
Tandem Flight concept drawing in pencil crayon by Marc Ngui.
Loved the installation at the Gladstone! Such fun. My son & daughter participated and had a great time. Have you been able to post the photos on flickr? Would be great to see them. Thanks!