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GIVE ME A SIGN
Made in collaboration with Upasana Nattoji Roy (India) Switch Studio
Sound Design: Tim Garratt & Ugendran Padiachey
Creative Technologist: Hasan AKA curiouswala
An Indo-Futuristic project exploring narratives of climate change, through the storytelling power of Indian dance mudras and Machine Learning powered hand gesture recognition.
Give me a Sign is an audiovisual experience that invites audiences to engage in a philosophical, analytical and speculative conversation around today’s climate change narrative to imply that non-action is not an option. Interacting with an illusionary AI entity called ‘Shunya’ using specific Indian dance mudras (hand gestures), audiences can unlock poetic insights and concerns relating to the climate emergency.
In the tradition of science fiction, the artwork employs fantastical means with the help of AI to digest and think about difficult and overwhelming situations such as our changing climate, probing into insecurities, confronting them and speculating about the change coming and how might we live in this new and potentially hostile environment. The project highlights the power of physical gestures in expressing meaning in relation to our physical environment. Repurposing mudras to reconnect with nature and convey the climate concerns we face, Give me a Sign hopes to build a bridge between humans, machines and cultures.
Built with a range of AI tools:
- Live hand gesture recognition: driven and trained using MediaPipe Handpose & Ml5 Neural Network
- 3D animation: choreography captured with Deepmotion and retargeted in Unreal Engine
- Backdrops Midjourney
Give Me A Sign premiered a prototype at the Future Fantastic Festival at HOME in Manchester (UK) February 2023, Rangashankara in Bangalore (IN) March 2023 and Bangalore International Centre March 2023.
Supported by : Befantastic, Future Everything & British Council