“Sun” at Printemps numérique

On Thursday, March 19, 2015, at 5:30 p.m., a new sun rose over spring. I am indeed talking about^the second awakening of Printemps numérique. For the occasion, Daniel Iregui, creative director and founder of Iregular, warmed the guests with his own digital sun. Inspired by the theme of spring and the sun, Daniel presented a digital version of this long-awaited star. He explained that at first it was more of a visual idea, a large black hole, something between the sun and its light. Because of the space, he wanted to place the piece above the crowd, where the work felt most appropriate. After reading and watching videos about the sun, its behaviour and its many explosions, Daniel materialized his concept as a semi-transparent square frame floating above the crowd. From a distance this atypical sun seems calm, but as soon as someone enters the rotunda of the Musée d’art contemporain, that person is enveloped by

the spatialized sound environment of this new digital sun. Daniel Iregui noted that Sun has its own consciousness and evolves in its own way. It is a passive work, but when someone stands beneath it, that person can influence its behaviour. Once inside the square area of the work, the visitor is detected by four lasers located under the

projectors. The lasers send physical location data to four computers. Using Moment Factory’sExagora program, as well as ActionScript and Flash, the system interprets the movements and mirrors that activity on the surfaces of this digital sun. Sun has two tableaux, two visual ways of illustrating a person’s presence inside its interactive enclosure. The first tableau shows thin black lines, while the second shows black squares. Daniel concluded that he wanted people to feel the emotion we all experience when the first warm sun of spring appears.