Turn Yourself Into A Glitchy Ghost With This New Time-Warping App

Even in an age that has seen the word "selfie" finally gain official entry into the English language, the experience of seeing your own moving image on a computer remains undeniably strange. One reason is that, due to the usual positioning of the camera (above the screen), you can't ever look your digital reflection in the eye. Look at the camera and the screen shows you looking slightly up; look directly at the screen and see yourself looking slightly down. Spatially speaking, something will always be just a little bit askew. As if that weren't enough, Minneapolis-based interactive and user-experience designer Jake Lee Haugen is developing software and an installation that will alter your digital image to confuse your sense of time, too.

Haugen has created a Kickstarter to raise money for this project, which he calls Slow Box. The software works by exploiting slit-scan photography technology, which records an image by scanning from one side of the frame to the opposite side, one small row at a time, rather than capturing the full frame all at once. Haugen’s implementation of this technique scans in 360 rows over the course of 16 seconds and utilizes a video feed from your webcam, all to trippy effect.

If you remain perfectly still, the video is captured as usual. If you move, for instance by waving your arm or moving closer to the camera as the software scans the frame over and over again, it creates delightful distortion effects. You may be confused initially about how your movement relates to the languid, morphing video on the screen. Your face may bulge, may be pulled out like putty, may twist like soft-serve ice cream. As you become accustomed to the way the software warps the video over time, you can start to learn how to create different effects. Slow Box becomes a clever digital toy.

That accounts for the “slow” part of the name. The "box" part comes from the installation itself. If Haugen reaches his fundraising goal, the installation will feature three large HDTVs, a speaker system, and three cameras all arranged around a walled structure. This adds extra variables for the software to process and enables it to produce new effects. The TVs might be arranged next to each other, in a row, allowing you to stretch and morph your image across a much larger canvas than your computer screen would allow. They could surround you on three sides so you see video in every direction. The cameras could be placed in odd positions. Imagine a camera behind you that presents a distorted view of your back, an aspect of yourself you rarely ever get to see even in its undistorted form. The box could fit two people, allowing for cooperative interactive play, twisting and smudging two bodies together. A future addition may include proximity sensors that change the software’s scanning speed depending on your distance from the camera.

The joy of Slow Box is that it fully pulls you out of yourself, makes you feel like you are seeing someone else rather than a skewed version of yourself. Haugen says that these kinds of experiences have the power to change the way we think about ourselves and the world. In that sense, Slow Box may be more than just a toy.

To donate to Haugen’s Kickstarter, see the website here. Perks include a personal copy of the Slow Box software and an installation in your gallery, business, etc. (Assuming you live in the Minneapolis area).