An Interactive Installation for a Large Group of Viewers, 2010
Technical Direction and Art Direction : Keyvane Alinaghi
3D Infography : Simon Lebon (Meconopsys)
Dedicated software development : Damien Marchal
With support from the DICREAM, the EnsadLab, as part of the school’s research program on relational set-ups.
Additional support from the IRCICA (CNRS computer science research).
The unusual component of this scene is the strange behavior of the zombies. When run away from the scene
or turns his back to the image, the zombie who had been facing him takes a few akward steps forward.
When the viewer looks again at the zombie, the latter stops dead in his tracks. It is as if a mere glance from
the viewer—whether expressing curiosity, disgust, or fascination—were enough to awaken a feeling of
shyness or shame in the breast of the blood-thirsty creatures.
The esthetics of the installation are those of currently produced video games.
The script, however, runs counter to the rules of the genre, providing an unusually negative ending. The
zombies end up devouring their victim whenever there are no viewers or when the viewer stays quietly,
without moving, peeping at the screen.
Once the zombies have finished their meal, the frame of the scene expands, revealing a new victim. The
only changing aspect of the action is the time it takes to eat the victim, which depends on the attitude of the
spectators.