La Máquina del Tiempo

(The Time Machine)

Interactive installation
2015
Centro Cultural de la Ciencia, Argentina

La Máquina del Tiempo is a permanent interactive installation developed for the Centro Cultural de la Ciencia through the Facultad de Artes of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

The work proposes a physical and audiovisual experience in which visitors can move forward or backward in time by pedaling a stationary bicycle. The system translates the pedaling movement into the navigation of a visual timeline that begins with the Big Bang and advances toward the present.

The relationship between historical time and physical effort is not linear: the journey proposes a proportional scale between the duration of major cosmic, geological, biological and cultural processes. The first sections condense vast spans of time, while the final pedal movements approach the history of life on Earth, human history and, finally, the visitor’s present moment, captured through a webcam and incorporated into the experience.

The system was developed with a rotary encoder sensor, Arduino, computer, five screens and custom software made in Processing. Based on the direction and speed of the pedaling, the installation allows visitors to move forward or backward through the temporal sequence, turning the visitor’s body into a navigation interface.

The installation also includes two interactive subcomponents. One works with images from La Flecha del Tiempo, a project by photographer Diego Goldberg. The other is a physical-digital game for children, in which objects are connected through plugs and cables in relation to what appears on screen, establishing associations between old and contemporary objects.

The project was commissioned to the Facultad de Artes of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. My role included artistic direction, interaction design, programming, technical development, general coordination and support for the working team. The development was carried out with students and teaching assistants, combining institutional production, pedagogical practice and technological realization for a public space devoted to science and culture.

Credits

Centro Cultural de la Ciencia

Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Facultad de Artes
Dean: Mariel Ciafardo
Production Secretary: Martín Barrios
C3 / Facultad de Artes project direction: Emiliano Causa and Matías Romero Costas / Biopus
Artistic direction, interaction design, programming and general coordination: Federico Joselevich Puiggrós
Design and development team: Anabela Cathcarth, Uriel Rubilar, Nacho Rodríguez, Mercedes Viola and Mateo Príncipi