Interactive Systems
Studio A N F creates interactive and adaptive media systems that perceive what is happening around them and respond in realtime. Cameras, sensors, live data and generative software are combined into a single computational system, allowing an installation to react continuously to people, movement and its environment.
Rather than triggering a fixed set of animations, Studio A N F designs systems in which perception becomes an input to an evolving visual process. The result is an environment that changes with its audience while retaining a coherent visual identity.
For Volkswagen Group / CARIAD at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich, Studio A N F developed a camera-tracked realtime system spanning a 14,000 × 2,000 px LED wall measuring approximately 15 × 5.5 metres. Two network cameras translated audience movement into anonymized spatial data used by the generative system.
Realtime perception and response
- Computer vision and tracking. Cameras can translate presence, position, movement and activity into abstract realtime data that drives the artwork.
- Generative response. Interaction influences the behaviour of a continuously running visual system rather than simply triggering prerecorded sequences.
- Sensors and live data. Physical sensors, environmental conditions, external data sources and networked systems can become inputs to the installation.
- Privacy-conscious design. Interactive systems can operate using anonymous positional and motion data without facial recognition or storage of personally identifiable information.
- Adaptive environments. Screens, LED surfaces, lighting and spatial media can operate as one coordinated system responding to the same realtime inputs.
- Local AI and machine learning. Where useful, computer vision and machine-learning models can interpret complex input directly on the installation hardware without sending data to external cloud services.
From interaction to behaviour
The objective is not simply to make a screen react when someone walks past it. Studio A N F develops computational behaviours that connect perception and visual output in more subtle ways. Audience density, direction, speed, proximity, gesture or environmental conditions can influence composition, movement, colour, structure and the evolution of the system over time.
This allows interaction to range from immediate and clearly legible responses to ambient systems whose behaviour changes gradually as activity in the space changes.
Recent projects
Volkswagen Group / CARIAD @ IAA Mobility 2025
Camera-tracked realtime generative environment spanning a 14k × 2k LED wall and 360-degree wraparound display in Munich.
The Origin of the Quantum Dot — Samsung, IFA 2016
Large-scale spatial media installation combining 45 SUHD displays with approximately 9,000 suspended pieces of stained glass in Berlin.
Reflection II — 2010
Interactive sculptural installation developed with Benjamin Maus, exploring the relationship between physical presence, computation and visual response.
How Studio A N F works
01 — Space
Studio A N F analyses the venue, audience flow, display configuration, viewing conditions and technical infrastructure.
02 — Perception
The appropriate sensing approach is defined, from cameras and spatial tracking to physical sensors, environmental data or external information sources.
03 — Behaviour
A computational model defines how the system interprets its inputs and how those inputs influence the visual environment.
04 — Prototype
Tracking, latency, interaction logic and visual response are tested before deployment using representative hardware and simulated environments where appropriate.
05 — Integration
The complete system is installed, calibrated and integrated with the project's LED, display, lighting and media infrastructure.
Privacy and computer vision
Interactive installations do not need to identify individual visitors. Studio A N F can design camera-based systems that extract only the abstract information required by the artwork, such as position, movement, direction or occupancy. Facial recognition is not required, and personally identifiable imagery does not need to be stored.
Where project requirements allow, perception and machine-learning processes can run locally on the installation computer so that visual data remains inside the system.
Can interactive systems run permanently?
Yes. Studio A N F designs realtime systems for both temporary events and permanent architectural installations. Permanent systems can be engineered for autonomous operation, automatic startup and recovery, remote monitoring and long-term maintenance without requiring an operator to run the experience manually.