Last month I saw several references on the web to Tag: We’re It – a digital art installation that used projectors to deliver a floating field of droplets along a white wall. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to share a memory which is recorded and they were then presented with a frame which they could use to reconstruct a Microsoft Tag by placing their frame on any grouping of droplets on the wall. This may sound confusing – just hit play on the video above to see the resulting beauty of the installation. Viewers could use their smartphone to scan the tag that their frame created and access any one of a hundred pre-recorded video memories, perhaps even their own.
The exhibition was attended by over 400 people in two days, and was extended by the gallery for two weeks through the E.A.S.T. Austin studio tour – Austin’s single largest art event of the year. It was the work of Lisa Kaselak, a filmmaker and digital artist and Lee Billington, a Creative Director and designer specializing in interactive design. They wanted a two-dimensional piece of art that you could explore and that delivered more than just the surface content. Microsoft Tag afforded that opportunity, not least as the Tag’s are dynamic (unlike QR codes) so the video content could easily be changed.
To quote one of their visitors – “I haven’t seen art and technology come together in quite this way”
Me either…but lets hope it catches on. I’d love to see this on Microsoft Campus somewhere too. Hint hint 
Check out http://www.tagwere.it for more info and sign up for future installations.
