The terms Freequent Traveller relates to frequency and periodicity, while free emphasizes the state of being elated. Traveller is used as a metaphor for our life-long journey.
Using Freequent Traveller means to make a journey!
Travel is the unification of impulse and action, movement and excitement, impression and expression - Travel is first and foremost self-movement, desire, and change. Traveling in space includes the travel inside oneself, at the same time. You enter a hammock and, synchronized to your swinging movements, you start dragging sentences on the "projection sail". My intention is to put the subject in a state of moving and being moved, creating a mindset of awarenesss and contemplation. Freequent traveller is a research tool, which also brings strangers playfully together.

The animation's content and speed depends on the amplitudes and dynamics of the movements. Initially simple animations gradually evolve into more and more extraordinary patterns of type and character-waves. Regularly the basic-patterns change. The user will always be surprised by the new cycle of motion. Analogous to the pendulum like movements of the hammock itself, the animations are based on sinewaves. The movements of the hammock control amplitude, frequency and density. The projected texts are short essays and excerpts about mobility, home and identity - about our todays living situation, included technology. With every exhibition I collect more statements regarding these topics. The content will be freequently updated. The user is browsing through all these statements, can think about them and contribute own ones..

The hammock has been chosen purposeful as it creates a situation of peace and contemplation, though one is passive and active at the same time. It connects a situation of rest and rather passive movement with the feeling of wandering around, both in thoughts, and through the distance travelled by the swinging motion. A central component of the work is rhythm. All indigenous cultures have rituals, that include repetitive motion to get into an elevated and engrossed state of mind. At the same time this rhythmic activity increases the activity of the brain. It inspires the process of thinking and reflection.

The participant is from the beginning subconsciously in full control, Participants use a computer without being aware of it but are given the possibilities to discover it. During the usage the installation becomes intuitively accessible: The speed and form of the animated text depends on the amplitudes and dynamics of the movements. Nine basicpatterns, from simple animations to more extraordinary patterns of type and character-waves, change randomly and make the text more or less readable. The user will always be surprised by the new cycle of motion. The user automatically starts to play with making the text slow down or plays with the rhythm and appreciates the changing dance of the text. He is being immersed in the stimulating synchronous loop of own physical motion and perceived visual dynamics. A changing state of receiving information and reflection is created. He can step out and observe the experienced system from an outside perspective. The piece does not conceal its interface but reveals it as part of its appearance; its transparency often creates a surprising effect of becoming aware of the own action in relation to the construction. In Freequent Traveller bodily motion and technology, the analogue and the digital coalesce..

Freequent Traveller is explorative, sensuous and playful. Its use is intuitive. Interactions are continuous and not in discreet steps; it is unencumbered, poetic, involving, engaging, has cognitive (visual/textous) as well as sensuous (tactual) qualities. Detailed description:

Download project description in English (160 KB)
Download excerpt of the text passages (700 KB)