Control No Control

Conceived mainly for big open spaces, CONTROL NO CONTROL is a large-scale interactive installation in the form of a minimalistic geometric structure, true to Studio Iregular’s signature style. Created in 2011 in Montreal for Igloofest, it has since been presented over 35 times around the world.

CONTROL NO CONTROL is a big LED cube that reacts to everything that touches it and every movement performed on its surface. Streamlined patterns and generative sound emerge as interaction occurs. Allowing 48 people to participate at the same time, the experience is extremely intuitive, leading to quick audience engagement and prolonged interactions. 

A sort of socio-digital experiment, the piece explores the relationship between participants and interactive installations. It tests the artwork’s ability to intrinsically “instruct” and delegate the final audiovisual result to the audience that ends up gaining control of the piece. After presenting it many times across continents and cultures, CONTROL NO CONTROL revealed that people all over the globe tend to behave the same way around the cube, and all seemed to spend a lot of time engaging. This in turn suggests the ability for the artwork to manipulate the public as well, highlighting the back-and-forth blurred nature of the control relationship.