# change-a-bit

a computer controlled by a string of bricks/bits and the cumulative actions of the participants.

presented in the itp winter show 2017 as a work of {escenaconsejo}.

# video

=> ./img/foto_change-a-bit_01.png photo of the installation: a row of nine bricks in the floor, all except two of them standing up. in the wall there's a projection of a monochromatic grid composed of different types of squares.

=> https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmeGF5HpMmzWLDZy6WcWGrqYXbYoPLBiZnNfKYLHzJtRgg/ChangeABit_640.mp4 change-a-bit demo video (mp4, ~10MB)

## transcript

> change-a-bit
> a computer controlled by a string of bricks/bits.
> each brick/bit has two possible states: high (standing) or low (laying).
> the bricks/bits encode an instruction that effects a change in the screen.

> increasing the size, decreasing the speed of computing.

> the screen works as a memory showing an accumulation of changes.

> computing: manipulation of arranged minerals to achieve a pattern of light on a surface (?)

# interaction

each brick/bit has two possible states: high or low.

the string of bricks/bits encodes an instruction for the computer: the cell in the screen that will be modified, and the visual pattern that will be assigned to it.

=> ./img/foto_change-a-bit_03.png photo of the installation with a person interacting: they are close to the floor, moving a brick, and observing the screen.

# about

this project comes from when we started fully researching ways of making computing tangible and evident in its {low-level} workings.

although the original idea of the project was about showing these workings without using electronics, the process led us to implement in (electronics-based) software the screen and the computer vision algorithm to detect the bricks using a depth camera.

the physicality stayed: we loved the experience of having other people and us interact with this computer via rough and found bricks, close to the floor.

=> ./img/foto_change-a-bit_02.png photo of the row of bricks, with a hand moving one of them.