A playfully interactive, web based work to experience the symbiotic relationship we share with other life forms and the impact that climate change has on all life forms on earth.
Tree of Life:
Divya Ramachandran (India), Gautam Sonti (India), Suresh K. Nair (India), Tenzin Gopal (India) & Tiny Domingos (Germany)
Mentor: Marc Lee (Switzerland)
Concept Note
The tree of life, a symbol of biodiversity and the interconnection and interdependence of all living beings is dying because of global warming. The viewer is invited to enter into a dance to save it. The viewer’s movements are captured by a webcam and are mirrored by several endangered species: animals, fish, birds, insects or trees. Movement is a symbol of life. This interactive dance is an invitation to build an alternative future based on respecting the web of life.
PROJECT LINK: http://nervous-hopper-65588f.netlify.app/
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Children and curious adults. We wish to make the work as accessible as possible. It is meant for all ages, gender, sexuality, religion, philosophy, education and income level.
Detailed Description
Tree of Life is an online, interaction inviting the viewer to enter into a dance to save the tree of life, a symbol of biodiversity and of the web of life. The viewer’s movements are captured by a webcam and are mirrored by several endangered species: animals, fish, birds, insects or trees. The movement of the player is transposed onto the non-human entity on the screen. The interaction is fun and underlines our connection with the living world. In addition, the player gets access to information about that species – its importance to the web of life, how climate change is impacting it and how the situation could be mitigated. The player is urged to participate in this ‘movement towards change’.
- First screen: A beautiful tree in a green landscape with flowers, butterflies and birds as symbols of life and harmony.
- The tree is decaying due to drought. No more water, vegetation and animals in the background. Heavy sunshine. The tree is withering and from the looks of it, will soon die.
- A magician comes and sees the dying tree. He decides to call the tree back to life with magic, dance and song.
- He turns to the player and invites her to dance with him.
- Magic happens: A endangered non-human species appears on the screen and follow the movements of the viewer!
- At the side of the screen, some information about the importance of the endangered species in the ecosystem, its habitat, the dangers it is exposed to as a result of climate change and the actions that can mitigate these dangers will be disclosed.
Good practices mentioned: Saving Water or Energy, Eating Less Meat, Not using Plastic, Taking Bike Rides instead of polluting vehicles and so on.
Bibliography, References and Tech Stack
Making a 3 d model using Tensorflow posenet and Three.js – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvo0LfjcLNU
Controlling just dance on posenet animator – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVH_vuDleA
Scratch posenet dance : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-QRUb9hzfg
Dance pose recognition : https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/ai-dance-based-on-human-pose-estimation-738ac2ff6d1f
Human pose estimation using opencv – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emgz2zmaOE0
Intended Technology & Integrated Tools
- Runway ML, video software Da Vinci resolve, filmora wondershare
- P5.js
- PoseAnimator with timer and music, with custom SVG files to include species threatened by climate change.
- HTML with text, images and links.
#CLIMATECHANGE #SYMBIOTIC-RELATIONSHIP #FUN #INTERACTIVE #WEB-BASED #PLAYFUL #MOVEMENT #CHANGE #ENDANGERED-SPECIES