bombIR is a software application written as part of my involvement with both
Graffiti Research Lab Germany,
and
Graffiti Research Lab Canada.
The project was first conceived of in the early days of GRL Canada, after extensive consultations with graffiti writers,
alongside Agent nomIg, and it was then revisited when I founded GRL Germany, and supported by several members there.
The program allows users to track an infrared LED - engineered into the cap of a modified spray paint can - with a camera,
and feeds the XY coordinates of the LED to the software in realtime, whereupon it renders the point like a pen stroke,
according to various visual parameters the user has set.
Used in concurrence with a rear projection screen, it feels like you are drawing on a surface in realtime.
It is often used in accordance with LARGE walls and BRIGHT projectors, with canvases upwards of 75 feet in diameter,
so that it becomes a very public and political event.
The software was written in
Processing,
a creative coding environment environment made for realtime graphical control,
and which has been expanded into a comprehensive toolkit for digital artists.
bombIR has been supported by several organizations through the form of artist residencies,
including New Forms Festival, Banff New Media Institute, Galerie SAW, and Artengine.
More information can be seen at
GRLG -> bombIR
and the source code can be found on the
GRLG GitHub.