WEBVTT

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Let’s face it, that button has something
that draws us to it.

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We can’t resist pressing it.

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Just as curiosity sparks our interest
in our surroundings,

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it’s the question of what might happen
if we press that button

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that makes it irresistible.

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Today almost everything,
even this talk, begins or ends

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by pressing a button.

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Now buttons are nothing new,

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when TV became mainstream,
we had buttons,

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but they just changed the channels,
nothing surprising.

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After the age of passive TV viewing
videogames arrived.

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Nothing crazy, but now buttons
did something else.

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They had more than a single purpose
and became programmable,

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so now you had to press them
to know what they did.

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That sparked our curiosity:
the mystery of the button.

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Then the 80s came along.

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I grew up when videogames became popular,
especially game consoles.

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This was the start of interactive
entertainment mediated by technology.

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Although I lost often, as you can see,
I got hooked.

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With that upbringing,
I wanted everything to have buttons.

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Even if nowadays they don't have
a button's shape or are invisible

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The button leads to an interaction.

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In the first videogames,
the "bad guy" didn't do much.

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He moved left and right,
maybe he jumped!

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It was more control than interaction.

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The digital artist Jim Campbell said
something that struck me:

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“I feel as though
I can interact with my cat,

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but not with an ant.”

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This picture explains it.

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This simple fact made me rethink
what I understood as interaction,

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which is usually considered from
a technological point of view

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rather than a human one.

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From then on, I have tried to learn
as much as I can about interaction.

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To do that I went back to its very origin.

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One of the clearest examples
of technology applied to interaction

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is the magic lantern.

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It was the first
image projector in history,

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a distant relative of what we know
today as “augmented reality".

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It was invented by the German scholar
Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century.

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It was used to project images
in theatre performances.

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Or to project images through smoke
to create never before seen illusions,

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known as phantasmagoria.

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An interesting fact is that the same
technique used to create this,

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called “Pepper's ghost” which created
an optical illusion in three dimensions

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is still used today to create
holographic images.

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I was inspired by this idea,
light that projected images,

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so in 2006, along with Alberto Garcia,
I developed this project

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“very originally” named Magic Torch,

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tapping into the element
of surprise and magic.

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We developed this little device

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full of microchips, transistors,
and other electrical components

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that didn’t do anything
but helped to make it mysterious.

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Some people were
almost afraid to touch it.

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Once the torch was on, all sorts
of images followed the light

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[ MAGIC]

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It was a very simple project
but I learned quite a lot.

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I learned that magic was the key.

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Since magic isn’t my thing

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I focused on technology
as a means to create astonishment.

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In 2011, I took on a little project
called “Water Drops.”

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I had a hard time
naming this one as well.

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I installed a faucet that did not have
water running but

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you could hear it dripping.

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If you covered the tap with
your hands, the water accumulated

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and once you dropped them,
you would hear the accumulated water fall.

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I could bring forth that feeling of magic

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playing with your senses

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and the fact that they sometimes
clash with logic and reason.

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(Dripping sound)

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Yes, I could have chosen
a more tasteful faucet

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but it was the only one
with enough space to insert the sensors.

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[EXTRA-ORDINARY]

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I learned that

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through technology, an ordinary
object can become extraordinary.

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In this project called Building Music,
making a play on words,

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building music as well as
having a musical building,

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we made a huge musical
instrument out of a building.

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Each window played a different
musical note or sound

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and with the light of a torch,
the audience could create melodies.

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All the music you hear
in the video was created

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by the participants playing
with the building.

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(Music)

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It was interesting to observe how
the shape of each building

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and most of all, each participant
with the same notes available

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created very different melodies.

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The beauty of designing interactive
projects is exactly that.

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The creator is always surprised,
because the participants

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always do something unexpected.

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It's guaranteed.

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A work of art is never complete

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[Artwork - Observer]

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until it reaches the observer.

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In these interactive projects,
we take it very literally:

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with no audience, there is no project.

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That is why it is imperative to make
the audience want to participate.

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[PLEASE, INTERACT]

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The interaction must overcome that barrier

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and spark curiosity, awakening the senses.

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For example, we all know

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we love to look at ourselves.

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We are amused by gazing
at our own reflection,

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or at best by our shadow.

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That is what lead to
Magnéticos (Magnetics),

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a project where you saw yourself
reflected through your shadow

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and you could interact with it.

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In this case, household
objects that we all collect,

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were irresistibly drawn to your shadow

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and turned into an outer shell.

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The next idea was: "sure,
we love to look at ourselves,

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but it’s a lot better with an audience".

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And why not see ourselves as the stars

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in one of the most visited
places in the world?

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In this project, giant models interacted
with pedestrians in Times Square.

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To give some background,
this intersection has

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an average of
350.000 visitors every day.

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Until then, people looked
at the screens

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an average of less than 6 seconds.

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This project multiplied
this figure by 20,

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now people spent more than
2 minutes watching,

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or rather, interacting with the screen.

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The key was to make the participant
the center of attention,

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the focus of interest
in such a crowded place.

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The models did all sorts of things to you.

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They could draw a picture
of you, fling you in the air,

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they could kiss you
and turn into a frog,

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They could even teletransport you
to Egypt if they wanted to.

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So far, since the beginning
of this project in 2010

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we have set up 30 different
types of interactions

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to keep surprising the public

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and of course we will set up more.

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We could call this compulsory interaction,

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you walk by and the model plays with you.

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We recorded the models
against a green screen,

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then we developed
computer visual technology

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that allowed us to identify
and recognize each person

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that walked in front of the screen.

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The system then mixes it all in real time
to make the interactions happen.

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And speaking of having an audience,

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many of us have dreamed
of being rock stars.

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And what could beat being the star of
a rock band with your friends or family?

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This project was installed
in a store in Times Square

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where we set up a photo booth

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that used facial recognition technology

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to copy your face onto a music video

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where you are the main character.

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In a matter of seconds
the video was generated

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and projected onto
the building across the street

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so you could have
a knockout performance guaranteed.

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In order to create this music video,

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the musicians had special
marks on their faces

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to allow the facial recognition
technology to use the visitor's face,

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like in the following clip.

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(Music)

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And just as half of us have
wanted to be rock stars,

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who hasn’t ever dreamed
of being a super hero?

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I know I have.

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This project goes back
to the idea of extraordinary

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with a very straightforward concept:

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you could fly over buildings
by transforming into a superhero.

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(Music and robotic sounds)

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And like any superhero,
not only could you fly

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but also shoot laser beams,
have super speed,

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clone yourself and many more
superpowers inspired by classic comics.

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I discovered that there are many
types of superheroes among us.

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Some who apply themselves,

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Some who look forward
to the future... thoughtful.

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Some are happy...

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…very happy

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And some are real pros.

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So far we have given superpowers
to 1.600 people

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and we hope to continue doing so.

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Although some may
turn into supervillains.

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In developing this project
we also learned that Wikipedia

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has a categorized list of superpowers
that is 12 pages long,

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it is truly remarkable!

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(Applause)

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As if it had official status, you know.

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Just as superhero fiction

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has reached Wikipedia
as a reality of our time,

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today we are living
in the golden age of technology.

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For some years now, we’ve had
cameras with software

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that can literally recognize
where someone is,

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where his arm or hand is.

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They can see and
understand depth in pixels.

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In the months to come,
the next versions of these devices

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will be able to tell someone’s heartbeat
without even touching them.

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It is technology like this that makes
possible the projects I have shown you.

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But the key to all of this is not
in the technology and devices

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but rather the reactions caused
by the magic of technology.

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Those reactions, the surprise,
the curiosity, the unimaginable.

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They are and always have been,
the driving forces of technology.

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We must strive to surprise ourselves
in order to keep surprising the world.

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(Applause)