Two Amsterdam artists, Theodore Watson and Emily Gobeille of Zara Parade created Funky Forest in 2007. This is an interactive ecosystem where children used their body movements to influence the life of a forest and a river.
Kids can use their body or place pillow rocks and logs to divert the water flowing from the waterfall to the trees to keep them alive. It is playful and instructive since if the trees lack water, they would wither and die. Kids could press their bodies against the forest to build new trees. The shape of the tree will be influenced by the child body. When the eco-system flourishes, the kids are rewarded by the emergence of lovely flying creatures. I wish I could play!
Besides the artist value, I wish to talk about this since I see it as the future of kid parties. Imagine booking a venue with similar installation as a playroom. It would be awesome. See how much kids enjoyed the Funky Forest on this video:
MORE:
+ Theodore Watson
+ Zara Parade
+ Via ArtEverywhere
Jerome Paradis
August 21, 2009 at 14:35Pretty funky indeed!
I would dream of such a room for my kids if I had kids. In the meanwhile, it could be pretty cool for my cats too!
K
August 26, 2009 at 21:20Ug, video is too spastic to give a clear view of the mechanics, but not spastic enough to be artistic. The music is annoying.
Are there any videos that actually show the workings of the room without kids spazzing about?