dynamo london

You know that creepy feeling you get when a the eye's in a portrait painting seem to follow you around the room? Well, this piece of art, literally, does just that.

The piece, called The Opto-Isolator was featured a show at the Bitforms gallery, in New York in November.

The Opto-Isolator works with some clever internal electronics and C++ programming. The eye is mounted at head height on a wall, and it 'looks' at its viewer eye-to-eye, dodges long stares and blinks exactly a second after the watcher does.

The artist, Golan Levin is known for making work uses complex computer-vision techniques and high-tech servomotors and microcontrollers. His work often follows the theme of 'gaze' as a new mode of human-computer interaction, and according to Levin, The Opto-Isolator is tackling questions like "What if artworks could know how we were looking at them? And, how might they respond to us?"

I was lucky enough to work with Golan years ago when he came to Fabrica to conduct a workshop. He is a lovely, friendly guy and I think his work is astounding. It is a pity that this work was only exhibited in New York (as is often the case with his work). I wish The Opto-Isolator could come to the UK so I could see it 'in the flesh', but until then, I'll have to settle with the You Tube video.

To really get a sense of how this amazing thing works I suggest you check it out.