Matthew Yapchaian | Breath Drawing
current information
11.19.06
The prototype video (above) proposes the conjoining of two bus stops through a daily conversation using the Breath Drawing interface.
Breath Drawing
User A in location A breathes onto a glass plane (connected to one or more additional locations) creating a "fog" and begins to draw with his/her finger. When User B in location B breathes onto a complimentary surface, A's drawing will be revealed. B can amend A's image or make an original drawing independent of A's. When A or another user in Location A breathes on the plane, both A and B's images appear. The "remote" user's marks will appear as [currently] a transparent grey to indicate location B's marks. The conjoined panes behave as a community canvas
Possible surfaces for this installation include bustops (featured in the above video prototype) and cab windows -conjoining people in multiple cities or the same city. Each time I enter a NYC cab I 'fog' the window in an attempt to reveal any traces of drawn images.
Project History
Breath Drawing is technology that facilitates [almost]* syncronous and asynchronous collaborative breath graffiti between two conjoined glass surfaces. When I take a cab [usually in NYC] I always breathe on the windows to reveal drawings previous occupants may have left behind. I practice this exercise in most spaces where a glass surface that may yield a drawing or accept one. Other locations of choice include: bathroom mirrors following a shower, cars belonging to friends (interior surfaces) or strangers (exterior surfaces), and airplane windows.
Precision with breath graffiti is in the gesture; usually a bomber will have a limited amount of time before the frost on a window is gone or their breath recedes. Marks are usually made with a finger rather than an artificial device.