Hoppsa Universum – An interactive dance installation for children

It started with an idea to create an empty space in which you activated music and light as you moved around. In responding to the music and lighting you would activate more or different sounds and thereby communicate with the space through your body. This led to an artistic research project in which children’s spontaneous movement was observed, a choreography made based on the children’s movements and music written and recorded for the choreography. This music was then decomposed and choreographed into an empty space at Botkyrka konsthall creating an interactive dance installation. It was realized using an interactive sound and light system in which 5 video cameras were detecting the motion in the room connected to a 4-channel sound system and a set of 14 light modules. During five weeks people of all ages came to dance and move around in the installation. The installation attracted a wide range of people of all ages and the tentative evaluation indicates that it was very positively received and that it encouraged free movement in the intended way. Besides observing the activity in the installation interviews were made with schoolchildren age 7 who had participated in the installation.QC 20180907