in 1862 John Henry Pepper was busy demonstrating his latest invention - Pepper's ghost. It's an interesting technique which is still being used on rides, attractions and theatre today. Here it is being used to superb effect in the (now long standing) Haunted Mansion ride in the Magic Kingdom.
ghostly semi-transparent figures spin round and flicker as apparitions around the table as the cart moves across the room at balcony height. The perspective of the characters is perfectly matching the environment, they move about in 3D space, creating a powerful (albeit slightly cliched) illusion. Part of the reason this works so well is the use of physical props moving in a mirrored, but identical space to that which the viewer sees, and the vertical pillars provide a good solution for mounting the reflective surfaces. A more modern approach to the peppers ghost sees the use of a reflected projection, which while offering flexibility (the content is essentially just a video, that can be worked into or swapped out) sacrifices the "free" perspective freedoms of having physical objects - the projection is a 2D surface that has to be engineered to work at precisely one vantage point.
With a view to trying to claw back some of that nice integration into reality, I thought it might be fun to introduce something else that seems to constantly bounce back and forth into the fog of my mind, reflecting itself over and over like flat polished two dimensional narcissus looking into the still waters - The infinity mirror!
Infinity mirrors have unfortunately got a bit of a bad rep, and are synonymous with the kind of kitsch modernism that you might find exhibited on the side of a teenager's gaming computer, or as above, in the home. The above picture is called "lq362-lifestyle.jpg", and I assume it's expressing that aspirational lifestyle we all yearn for - the one where you wake up and stare solemnly into the black fog of non-existent blue-LED studded space while you wash your hands with your matching tiny cube of blue future-soap, and forget for the hundredth time to tend to your blue glass vase and your small bowl of glass beads.
I've always loved the recursive quality of an infinity mirror. Ever since I was a teenager with dreams of building my own infinity mirror for the side of his computer tower, remarking with wide-eyed wonder about just how "trippy" it might be.
I'd like to steer away from the single points of light, and if possible, create something that looks more like 4 solid strips of colour, that can be made from individually addressable LEDs. The plan would then be to integrate a peppers ghost illusion employing an OLED screen and a thin piece of reflective material. The "hologram" would be offset back to exist within this light tunnel, and the content could be synchronised with the lights, creating an interaction where the content appears to be lit by the surrounding lights, and with any luck - it might look like it's meant to be there!
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