WIEDERLEBEN
600x600x1800 mm
TOWARD PARTICIPATORY MEMORY SPACES
"Wiederleben" is an interactive video installation that investigates how embodied interaction can recontextualize digital memory, creating a tangible link between observer and archive. The installation responds to human presence – as soon as someone enters the space, memories begin to play: fragments of old VHS tapes, webcam clips, and AI-generated imagery. Together, they form a layered narrative of past, present, and imagined futures. At the heart of the experience is a real VHS camera, equipped with an ArUco marker. When held toward the installation, it triggers a new recording – turning a simple gesture into a new memory. The visitor becomes both witness and contributor.
BLENDING MEMORY, PRESENCE, AND INTERACTION
As our memories shift further into the digital and disembodied, "Wiederleben" explores how physical interaction can restore emotional presence to virtual media. The VHS camera is more than a tool – it becomes a symbol of tangible remembering. It grounds the fleeting digital in something spatial, material, and real. Rather than relying on passive screens or fully virtual experiences, the work thrives in the quiet tension between analog and digital, presence and absence, observer and observed.
BRIDGING PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL
Technically, "Wiederleben" is built around a Raspberry Pi running Python scripts, combining MediaPipe for person detection with ArUco for object recognition. A webcam acts as input, while two monitors present layered video content. The structure itself mirrors the hybrid experience: bent steel tubes meet 3D-printed PLA joints, connected with steel cables and grounded by Black MDF. A dialogue between industrial precision and makeshift intimacy.
