OIF / TICDCE · 2022 · Installation

Djerba Explore · XVIIIᵉ Sommet de la Francophonie

An immersive walkthrough inside a former olive oil mill, where nine microphones, a jar of olives and a dome turn Djerba's data into a reactive environment.

A new media art installation staged inside a former olive oil mill at Djerba Explore park, for the XVIII Francophonie Summit. One principle holds across the whole walkthrough: the island's cultural, sonic and environmental data are never illustrated, they are the raw material the image and the sound are generated from. The path chains five devices. The Zitoun Jarr is its symbolic core: a jar filled with olives, where simply touching the zitoun triggers the wall pixel mapping and a sonic layer. An ultrasonic sensor and an Arduino drive a 400 by 600 pixel LED panel over DMX. The gesture belongs to a thousand-year-old agricultural practice, the response is computational. On the floor, entry and exit devices unfold black and white patterns generated by a real-time audio datavisualisation: nine microphones spread across different heights of the room listen to the space, and the space draws itself. The dome carries a double layer, inner and outer, of Djerba data visualisation. The Square Hole extends that reading into light, through PARELED DMX driven by a motion detection camera. Active zones across the room let visitors trigger the island's sound collections as they move. The system reaches beyond the building. The Arcades add pixel mapping across four arches, reactive to audience position, with sixteen speakers, five cameras and four 30 m steerable LED units. The Orchestra generates in real time onto the facade and the tree, from graphic cutouts drawn from the Djerba image database. Architecture and scenography: dzeta, Tunis.