anyWare – Shiftr.io test from Jane Tingley on Vimeo.

anyWare will be a distributed sculpture that will include three physical objects placed in three different physical locations. These objects will be individually connected to the Internet, where they will also have a virtual presence. The virtual objects will be accessible by a web interface that permits an on-line overview of the three installation spaces and a platform for interaction. The objects – both virtual and physical – will mirror each other (either symmetrically or asymetrically) and will simultaneously respond to people who interact with them in any physical or virtual location. For example, if someone walks into the gallery in Montreal and interacts with the object, the sensors on that object will transmit the information to the server hosted in the cloud, which will house the logic for the interaction. The server will then transmit to all three objects a response to the stimuli. This way all three objects will be moving in an identical manner. The objects in anyWare will wait dormantly for someone to interact with them. Each object will encourage a set of playful interactions that are designed to encourage experimentation, exploration, and potential “conversations” with other interactors. The exact nature of this interaction will be explored in the research for the project, as well as the physicality of the object itself. However, the object will be designed to transform in the experience of exploration (either with one person or potentially with many people) and in so doing will reveal different levels of interactivity.