My eyes make the stars shine.
My breathing is as strong as the wind.
My heart moves the ocean.

A hungry Andean cat travels to the coast to fish, unaware that he has some special followers.

Track-track: Let’s follow the cat! is a micro puppet show for children where the spectator’s biometric data animates elements of the scenography. While seeing the show inside a box through a peephole, the kid activates sensors that take the data to make the stars shine, blow the wind, and move the waves.

Taking the format of the Brazilian Lambe Lambe theater -a peep box- this project aims to explore children’s new digital environment and the concerns around biometric data processing and the notion of privacy. This interactive puppet show investigates how children recognize themselves as a data source and perceive their own digital data as a resource.

Track-track: Let’s follow the cat! is part of the DADA-TATA project.

Performance for one person (~3 min).

__________
Technical details: Computer, monitor 10", microcontrollers, sensors, fan, electromagnets, lighting system, puppets (5.5 cm & 2.5 cm), and miniature stage box 39 x 58 x 40 cm. Running software: Processing, Arduino, and audio reproducer.

Short video explanation

Presented at

2023 / Young Animation Festival, Wels, AT
2023 / Nuit de l'Imagination. Columbia Global Centers & Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris, FR
2023 / Británico Cultural, Lima, PE
2023 / Británico Library, Lima, PE
2023 / Peckham Digital, London, UK
2022 / ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (Best Demo Recognition), Braga, PT
2022 / Poetics of Obsolescence, Atelierhaus Salzamt, AT
2021 / 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival, ADAF Kids, GR
2021 / Kunstuniversität Linz, BestOff, AT
2020 / Kunstuniversität Linz, Guest Lecture for Mediengestaltung, AT
2020 / Ars Electronica Center, Kids’ Research Laboratory, AT
2020 / Ars Electronica Festival, AGORA DIGITALIS: ‘Intimacy, Embodiment & Technology’, AT
2020 / Ars Electronica Festival, STATE OF INTIMACY Exhibition from INTERFACE CULTURES, AT

School visits
2023 / Paris, FR

Research article

Sasaki Otani, Maria Esperanza. (2022). “Track-track: Let’s follow the cat!” Reflecting on children’s biometric data processing through a micro puppet show. Interaction Design and Children, 629–632. https://doi.org/10.1145/3501712.3535275

Premiere @Kunstuniversität Linz @Ars Electronica Festival 2020

Development process

Technical details

Credits

Concept, script, scenography and lighting design, puppet design and manipulation, sound edition, visuals and electronics by Nomi Sasaki.
Music by Pauchi Sasaki.

Special thanks to

My family, Niklas Uhl, Patricia Cadavid, Iosune Sarasate, Juan Linares, Indiara Di Benedetto, Fiorella Vari, Jesús Zegarra, and Interface Cultures team.

This project was developed with the ÖH Project Grant 2020.

Dedicated to

Anchan & Íkam