‘Let’s get physical’: experimenting with human interaction

How can digital technology stimulate human interaction in a social environment? With Let’s get Physical’, a sentient installation about attraction, NorthernLight experiments with the most essential need of human beings: moments if intimacy. This multisensory space debuted at FrameLab, a two-day event for designers, architects and innovative brands. The installation made grown men and women in smart clothing dancing to no music and casually bumping into each other.

Lucid beams of light welcome you once you enter the installation, forming colourful and unpredictable rings around your footsteps, stimulation connection and interaction. With a camera tracking your motions and an immersive soundscape reacting to new users entering, people spontaneously start to play around and discover the effects of their movements. The goal is to get people to stop overthinking and playfully connect with each other. Without explaining, people grasp the concept.

As a pioneer in designing transformative experiences, NorthernLight constantly works on creating spaces and installations that stimulate human interaction. We believe that the future is about spaces that are alive, that react to people, that understand who we are and what we want. With spatial design we can hugely influence how we experience reality. How will these experiences coexist with the real world? What challenges lie ahead for our social relationships? Combined with technology, entire new spatial experiences can be created.

Photos by: Jeannette Huisman, Frame and NorthernLight