Magic Hopscotch is an installation at the Beta_space in the Powerhouse museum in Sydney, 23 June - 30 July. It was the collaborative effort of CCS members Doreen Ee and Viveka Weilly. 

A traditional hopscotch pattern is demarcated on the floor of the Beta_space. Toward the end of the game-diagram is the rear projection screen, depicting the same space, with the screen disappearing into a forrest. As one hops across the game space, floor sensors are triggered which changes the visuals on the projection screen; adding trees with each progressive grid, until reaching the end the virtual space depicted on the screen is completely covered in trees. 

Viveka showed me an earlier stage of this project in the Alpha space up at the CCS studios in January. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how it turned out. The concept, interaction design, and rhetorical principles are all equally simple yet easy to read and in a provocative way. This project struck a chalk mark in my mind next to the perpetual list I keep of how often interactive installations are more successful when they are kept simple and manageable. While standing in the space, we were fortunate enough to be interrupted by a girl (perhaps 11) and her father. She eagerly approached the hopscotch diagram and skipped across. Interestingly enough, she was looking at her feet the whole time until she reached the end square where an overgrown forrest greeted her that was not there when she started. This pleased her greatly and she quickly went back to the starting square to complete the grid again, this time watching back and forth between her feet and the magically emerging forrest in front of her. I was immediate aware of how this work merged the game mechanics with the reactive visuals that encouraged a positive reflection towards building a forrest, contrary to the grim reality that now faces the Earth. I'm thinking of EO Wilsons quote about how in 80 years we used up 70% of the Earth's resources (although I may have the figures off slightly).