Defrost is an interactive video installation which merges live footage from a thermal camera with Max/MSP programming. The core of the work incorporates the notion of melting. When spectators move in the monitored area framed by the thermal camera, the image ”melts” into particles and changes. When there is no movement, the image returns into its original composite form.
The dissolving and reappearing manifested in the work refer to processes in nature: warmth and motion which result in changes in the climate, growth, decay and regeneration. The transitions taking place in the images are triggered by the presence of warmth and motion. There is no life without warmth and movement, though too much of them is harmful.
The programming of the interactive part is generated by a Max/MSP patch created by multimedia experience designer and media artist Federico Foderaro. Foderaro has given the Defrost working group an access to use and modify a Max/MSP patch created by him for using it in Defrost.
The exhibition is part of the two-year-long collaborative project Synthesis between Helsinki Artists’ Association and Polish WRO Art Center. Defrost is also part of the 19TH Media Art Biennale WRO 2021.
