Last week’s Digital Art Festival in Tokyo featured a cornucopia of cutting edge devices and miscellaneous interactive experiences and performances. One particularly odd device—dubbed the Morphovision—actually distorts what is seen with the naked eye. It’s like a visual effects pedal for reality, or as the website we make money not art described it, it’s like “photoshopping the real world.”

In front of a physical 3D miniature house (placed in a glass box) is a touch screen that allows a user to select different visual effects. According to the user’s selection, the house may become soft or even break apart. This all happens between your naked eyes and the miniature house – no special goggles or screens needed…

Of course, the house doesn’t actually get soft or break apart. It’s the light source that changes. The house is actually spinning very fast and the light source creates certain light patterns that are in sync with the house’s rotation. The light patterns are modified based on what the user selects with the touch screen. The system can create animated visual effects as well.

More and more technology is revealing that reality, or our perception of it (if there’s a difference), is mutable. The Morphovision was co- developed by Toshio Iwai and NHK Science & Technical Research and Laboratories.

Images & Copy: 2005 NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

[via we make money not art]