Interactive Digital Installation by Aurora Meccanica
@ Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano, Turin
"BRIGANTI! Storie e immagini dal Risorgimento a oggi" is an exhibition held at the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano in Turin from October 22, 2025, to March 30, 2026. The exhibition analyzes the complex phenomenon of brigandage, exploring its historical and cultural manifestations from the late 18th century to the present day.
Within the exhibition, our interactive installation "Paesaggi Ribelli" (Rebellious Landscapes) offers visitors a participatory experience.
The installation invites reflection on the complexity of history and reality itself. We chose a gradient as the interaction model to represent the nuanced, multifaceted nature of a phenomenon like brigandage, which, much like our own reality, is rich with shades of meaning and full of light and shadow—chiaroscuro.
There is no absolute agreement or disagreement. Within each choice lies a further nuance, another gradient. This is because "Paesaggi Ribelli" is an invitation to deeper analysis, a call to embrace the many-sided perspectives through which we can interpret our world.
It is from the union of these diverse viewpoints that a richer, more articulated, and aesthetically compelling work emerges. The collective landscape becomes a testament to the idea that beauty and understanding are born from the synthesis of different perspectives.
Through a touchscreen, the public can express their degree of agreement on five statements about brigandage. The answers are aggregated in real-time and displayed on a large vertical monitor, where they form a dynamic and colorful mosaic resembling a landscape. This collective visualization transforms individual opinions into a constantly evolving work of art, reflecting the public's perception of the theme and creating a visual dialogue between history and its contemporary interpretation.
The final visual output is then used as a source image for a real-time generative AI model (like Stable Diffusion) to create a painting that represents the collective "Rebellious Landscape," constantly changing with each new contribution.
The user experience is designed as a simple wizard. After choosing a language (Italian/English), the user is presented with five statements about brigandage. For each statement, they can express their level of agreement on a gradient scale from yellow (total disagreement) to green (full agreement).
If a user leaves the station, the system saves any partial data after 30 seconds of inactivity and returns to the home screen, ready for the next visitor.
The installation consists of two main interfaces:
User votes are stored in a simple CSV file, which is read by TouchDesigner to update the visualization. The tests are created by simulating a real human touch interaction:
A special thanks to Carlo Riccobono from Aurora Meccanica, who guided the development as the Creative Director for this and all multimedia installations at the exhibition, bringing his unique vision and expertise to the project.
Creative Direction
Carlo Riccobono
Aurora Meccanica
Creative Development
Roberto Santoro
TouchDesigner Programming
Marcello Reina
