Tench Cholnoky



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p.01 A Machine to Unmake YouInstallation, Touchdesigner, Python
Project Overview



   A Machine to Unmake You is a design project created by Melanie Crean in collaboration with incarcerated ex-military and other participants affected by the justice system in Liverpool, England between 2019 - 2024. The project was commissioned by the FACT Learning Team at FACT Liverpool. I was the head Creative Technologist and worked closely with Melanie Crean on the larger installation pieces of the exhibition.


A Machine to Unmake You on display at FACT Liverpool
    The piece pictured above is the primary piece I worked on for this show, it was an experimental clock which ran the full seven hours the gallery was open every day. Throughout the day, the figures moving back and forth on the chairs would gradually get distorted, becoming abstract shapes which entered and exited the frame in a slow, methodical rhythm.

    The premise was based in a slitscan style effect which would change dynamically over the course of the day. Using Touchdesigner I made a network which could count out fifteen minutes of render time before gradually shifting from one custom slitscan effect to another

Touchdesigner

Network top layer, where input is blended between the original video and python video, as well as timers and post processing
One part of the middle network layer, where the slitscan processing gets applied to the video
Full view of the middle layer of the network, including the data points and parameters being changed over time
Lowest network level where each template of slitscan parameters is stored
One of the templates with all the information about how the slitscan will be processed
The rendering process as viewed from my laptop

    Pictured above are explanations of each part of the touchdesigner network that processed the first 5.5 hours of M2UY. Below are some video clips of the different outputs of each different slitscan template, which cycled throughout the day during the gallery’s open hours.



Python

Every day, the piece ends by slowly transitioning into a more traditional slitscan effect done with python.

Python Output
Python Script

Additional info about the project as a whole along with more conceptual information on the piece can be found on Melanie’s website.