100 Plates Interactive Touch Display
Using cool interactive technology is meaningless if you don’t have a great creative concept—and story—to go along with it. 100 Plates is one of our favorite examples of these elements coming together to create something truly one of a kind.
100 Plates is an environmental and interactive touch display created for Feeding America. Its purpose is to educate people about food insecurity. The installation tells the story of Jimmy, a boy living in an urban food desert. Observers become active participants in Jimmy’s story when they touch conductive ink “buttons” on 100 Plates’ wooden surface. This triggers projection animations that work in concert with the static imagery on the wood to bring Jimmy’s story to life. We also created a giving kiosk that allows people to make a ten-dollar donation to Feeding America’s local branch, Feeding Northeast Florida.
The project was developed on the TouchDesigner platform. The use of conductive ink as a trigger for projection mapping enabled audience members to create their own functional circuitry.
The installation’s navigational structure is designed with an emphasis on narrative and simple, sequential storytelling. Our intent is to recalibrate the way people digest information about hunger, giving the issue emotional—not just statistical—weight. 100 Plates is a great example of how we seek to create multiple points of engagement for a diverse range of audiences by recontextualizing space, storytelling, and technology.
