This freestanding installation in the Portland Art Museum was deployed in concert with the museum’s exhibition “Marking Portland: the Art of Tattoo.” Integrated into an alcove adjacent to one of the busiest thoroughfares in the museum, this two-sided experience merges the museum’s community and collection. On a large display on the inner side of the unit, visitors walk up and see themselves with details of artwork blended onto their likenesses. A row of scrolling thumbnails lets visitors browse and select the artwork they want to see on themselves. After a few seconds, an image of the composite is captured and added to the “Body Collective” collection, where it can be viewed on the outside of the unit. Visitors can browse through thumbnails of every image captured since the exhibition opened to observe the playful convergence of art and audience.

It’s great to see interaction design pushed beyond the boundaries of a web browser. Beautiful and compelling.