The Brooklyn Zoo is an interactive installation that turns a gated storefront window into a cage inhabited by a giant cartoon creature who lives in the dark and whose eyes follow people as they pass by.

Once per year Windows Brooklyn teams artists and local shopowners together to create art in the urban landscape. I was teamed with Soula, located at 185 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood teaming with parents and kids. While kids naturally seem to wonder about what lurks in the dark, sound-minded adults living in Brooklyn probably do the same. The Brooklyn Zoo is a playful and humorous exploration of this theme that substitutes scary monsters for funny ones.

The idea of this piece was born from considerations about how to best work the Soula's space, particularly how to incorporate the metal gate that is pulled down over the windows every night for security reasons. The piece incorporates the gate to mimmic the zoo experience while the oversized cartoon-esque eyes take that experience and turn it into something more unexpected.

Technically, the installation consists of a camcorder hooked up to a computer, which then process the video feed through motion-tracking algorithms, which in turn directs the eyes' movement. Special thanks to Justin Windle for the motion-tracking code. All programming was done in Flash/Actionscript3. The installation measures roughly 10' x 6'.

The Brooklyn Zoo was live from June 6th to June 13th, 2009, sundown to sunrise.