Clara Boj and Diego Diaz run lalalab.org where they display their media-art pieces, from computer vision to physical computing. Their latest work is called Hybrid Playground, transforming a playground into a video game.

All images are copyright 2008 by C. Boj and D. Diaz

This time they are working together with Martin Nadal, yet another artist from Madrid’s scene and known -among other things- for collaborating in many of the electronic art projects from the Medialab Prado in Madrid, Spain.

All images are copyright 2008 by C. Boj and D. Diaz

Hybrid Playground reflects upon the fact that all kids have video games and brings those to a playground, transforming it into a collaborative game. The video document attached shows Diego and Martin attaching sensors here and there. Those Arduino inside boxes contain an accelerometer and RFID readers, as well as other sensors, that will report over XBee to a server running the game engine.

Video copyright 2008 by C. Boj and D. Diaz

The different players carry a bracelet augmented with RFID tags used for identification. The team leader carries a PDA with connectivity to the server. It will report back information about which is the next goal, and the status in achieving it.

The video is 10 minutes long and is only in Spanish, but contains a full report of the experience made by Clara, Martin and Diego. I like when by the end, Clara evaluates the game together with the kids. At some point one of them comments on this game being better than the Wii from Nintendo, because it brings his attention away from the screen. For being 9 years old kid, this is quite an opinion.

This project was co-produced by Intermediae-Matadero, the brand new art space in Madrid, Spain, and mentioned on El Pais, 20080522.