Decode Exhibition - London

I recently went to see the Decode exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. This is interactive entertainment rather than photography but there were many visual elements that have been drawn from the artform that have made an impact on how many of these digital devices were setup.



Take, for example, this interactive display which was basically a video camera setup behind a booth with a touch screen lcd with about 24 separate (or was it more?) frames.

People could step up and select a frame (which would delete the previous recording) and then the camera would count down from 3 to 0 and record a clip of the subjects for about 5 seconds. It would then replay the clip with less frames than regular video so it would look like a sort of funny - Charlie Chaplin like - animation. It doesn't sound like much but I can assure you everyone there was in hysterics, certainly the best interactive element on display for me.

It was interesting though, how people posed like waiting to be shot from a traditional camera lens - often awkward and predetermined and it reminded me of little clips that you sometimes record on the back of a cheap digital compact, but the stuttering animation is what made all the difference, rather like the shots you get from multiple lens lomo cameras (like the actionsampler) which I talked about here.

There were some other nice photo concept artworks at Decode - like a device that displayed a ghost like image of  you if you stood still for about a minute (rather like a long exposure) and slowly faded away - creepy! I would highly recommend seeing the exhibition - closing in the next few days though on 11th April...

Visit the Decode mini website on the V&A here to book tickets.