Focus on interactivity – We spoke with Gáspár Hajdu about CODE's installations

In addition to CODE's iconic six-sided space, the Hexagon, it is worth highlighting the installations located in the foyer and exhibition space, most of which are the work of Gáspár Hajdu and the VEKTORLAB team. We asked Gáspár, who has been working with digital installations for more than a decade, about the details of the implementation.

First and foremost, we had to take spatial conditions into account, such as the installation in the CODE café; in the case of Flowlands, it was important to create a visual element that would not disturb the coffee shop's atmosphere in the background, does not seek to interact with the people directly, but rather creates an ambient effect. Basically, we can communicate with it on two levels: first, there is a background effect that creates a constantly changing visual world based on the camera image, so the colors we see are determined by the current traffic in the café.

Yes, we can say that it becomes a living space on the second level. It is actually a dynamic relief or topography that moves very subtly, but it can also be viewed as an architectural element. Due to my background in architecture, I tried to implement ideas that complement the use of space, the movement and flows within it.

On CODE's first floor, you will find the six-sided Hexagon, where immersive presentations are shown. What many people may not know about this room is that it is equipped with motion sensors. This allows us to know exactly how many people are in the room and where they are moving. We wanted to visualize the movement experienced in the Hexagon in some way, so a hexagonal display was placed on the ground floor, which breaks up the space in a very interesting way. Hexaviz is a real-time visualization interface consisting of four smaller screens displaying data measured in the Hexagon in the month preceding the given date, such as visitor numbers and traffic intensity.  

In abstract, visual form, it shows, for example, how many people were in the space on a given day and exactly when visitors were most active. This is an exciting extra layer: the data generated in this way puts the Hexagon's world into context. The technology itself is based on data visualization, which is something I'm particularly interested in. Whether it's exact measurements or more abstract patterns, data helps make the immersive space more understandable and "readable." In the case of Flowlands, movement is presented more as a mood, in abstract visual language, whereas here it becomes information—in the form of data visualization—and even educational. The common point in both cases is the same: we make the movement taking place in space visible, only in a different language.

This is a complex issue, because the works were not originally created with this approach in mind, but most of them are characterized by the fact that visitors of different ages or perspectives can connect with them at different levels. The viewer first connects with the works through the visual aspect, but it depends on the amount of time spent on them, on their mood, and their enthusiasm, how they can connect with them on different levels. As they use it, more and more details come to light, and they can even see the technology behind it. From an educational point of view, I would definitely highlight the work called Scanorama.

It was important for every installation to feature some form of interactivity: whether it was the visitor's own presence or, in the case of Hexaviz, for example – based on the movements of others. Scanorama is a drawing and viewing game where you can choose from several different scenes. These are different animated dioramas that incorporate visitors' drawings, so we can color the constantly changing animated images with creations made on the spot.

The first is a Lake Balaton Wildlife themed slide show, where you can spot fish, gliders, frogs, and sailboats. Kids love this, as the image is continuously built up during a long projection and becomes richer and richer by the end of the day thanks to the participants' drawings. The other scene depicts a jazz band, where different instruments, such as the saxophone or drums, can be colored in. You can then scan your drawing and the instrument will be placed in the hands of one of the musicians in the installation.

Yes, once the drawing has been inserted, we can also listen to the musical solo of the instrument. What is particularly interesting about this installation is that the constantly expanding band plays jazz music even in the background, even when no one is using it, meaning it is constantly communicating. This way, guests can see what creations have been made in recent weeks. In a broad sense, this is also a kind of visual imprint: it shows which topics visitors are most interested in, which ones dominate, and what themes they generally choose. The Living World of Lake Balaton is really very popular, and within that, the frog is one of the biggest favorites.

In the case of Scanorama, visitors also receive a kind of reward, as the scanning is accompanied by sound and visual effects as the creation appears in the diorama. At the drawing table designed for the installation, kids and adults alike have the opportunity to sit down and create something together, making it a great community experience for all ages.

Yes, Hangfestő is an installation controlled by synthesizer keys and potentiometers, based on an idea by musician and performer Dániel Váczi: sounds of different pitches draw lines of different colors and directions on the surface of a button. The unique pattern of the drawn lines depends only on the melodies played.

All of our projects operate somewhere between the boundaries of art and technology, and we often engage in various media art projects. This is definitely an important segment, as we live in an age of technology, where digitization surrounds us in every aspect of our lives. Artistic creations based on technology provide a good opportunity to reflect on a given era or even the present.

We strive to ensure that every installation appears on a display of unique size or proportion, and that interactions go beyond touchscreen thinking. This may seem like a small thing, but for example, in the Csontvári – In the Language of Photons exhibition, we also introduced a twist in the Csontváry picture card installation, in that the interaction does not take place in the usual way, but turned around, so that the camera captures the visitor from behind. In today's world, almost everyone is used to 16:9 image cropping, so if we deviate from this, it may seem insignificant, but it can easily bounce people out of their usual perspective and in fact, this is one of the hidden goals of the installations.

• FLOWLANDS: Flóra Petrók, Gábor Hajdu
• HEXAVIZ: Flóra Petrók, Gábor Hajdu, Sámuel Setényi, Melinda Sipos, Eszter Kiskovács
• SCANORAMA: Gáspár Hajdu, Flóra Petrók, Sámuel Setényi, Melinda Sipos

1. Lake Balaton: 

ILLUSTRATION & GRAPHICS: Aliz Buzás, Gita Elek

ENVIRONMENT: Olivér Busch, Máté Petrányi

2. Jazz scene:

ILLUSTRATION & GRAPHICS: Nóra Tóth

SOUND DESIGN: CHRIS ALLEN

3. Christmas scene:

ILLUSTRATION: Csilla Csankovszki

• SOUND DESIGN:

DESIGN & CODE: Flóra Petrók, Gáspár Hajdu, Sámuel Setényi 

UI DESIGN: Gita Elek

CONCEPT: Dániel Váci

INSTALLATION DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION: András Gross, Tóbiás Terebessy / Medence Designlab

• CSONTVÁRY POSTCARDS:

CONCEPT: Andrea Sztojánovits, Tamás Zádor (Glowing Bulbs), Gáspár Hajdu

DESIGN & CODE: Gáspár Hajdu, Flóra Petrók, Sámuel Setényi