interactive installation 5 | SunMatrix Ramble

Be Your Own Souvenir: 3D-printed human statue

The crew from blablablab.org creates a unique digital installation in La Rambla, Barcelona, a place made famous by street artists posing as “human sculptures” and the constant flow of tourists who stop to watch them stand still.

This installation reverses the roles and lets the tourist become the producer as well as the consumer. The system invites visitors to perform as a human statue, with a free personal souvenir as the reward: a small figure of themselves, printed three-dimensionally from a volumetric reconstruction generated using three structured-light scanners (Kinect).

On La Rambla, where people already queue for a photo moment, converting spectators into performers is a reliable way to earn attention without forcing a pitch.

A street ritual, rewritten

La Rambla already has a clear “script”. You stop, you watch, you take a picture, you move on. This project keeps the same script, but switches the hero. Instead of photographing someone else’s performance, you become the performance, and you leave with a physical artifact that proves you did it.

The real question is how you get strangers to choose public participation without feeling like they are being pitched.

How the scanning becomes the experience

The tech is not framed as “3D scanning”. It is framed as a playful stage. You step into position, hold still like the living statues nearby, and the system quietly captures you. The output is a miniature you can take home, which makes the digital process feel tangible and earned.

In European tourist corridors with heavy foot traffic, public-space interactivity succeeds when the action is instantly legible and the payoff is immediate.

Why the reward loop works

A souvenir is usually generic. Here it is personal, location-specific, and instantly story-worthy. The value is not the plastic. The value is the transformation: tourist to performer, data to object, moment to keepsake. The reward loop here is simple: pose, get captured, receive a miniature you can take home. This kind of public-space interactivity works best when the reward is earned through participation, not handed out as a promo.

Extractable takeaway: Turn spectators into performers with a one-step action and an earned artifact, and you can win attention without forcing a pitch.

What to steal for public-space interactivity

Borrow a behavior people already understand. The “human statue” pose needs no explanation in this location.
Make participation the content. The audience is literally the subject.
Deliver a physical takeaway. A real object extends the memory past the street corner.
Keep the instruction simple. “Stand here and pose” beats any multi-step onboarding.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Be Your Own Souvenir”?

It is a public installation on La Rambla that invites tourists to pose as human statues, captures them with structured-light scanning, and produces a small 3D-printed figure as a personal souvenir.

How does the system capture the person?

It uses volumetric reconstruction generated from three structured-light scanners (Kinect), producing a digital model that can be sent to a 3D printer.

Why does the “human statue” framing matter?

Because it matches the culture of the street. People already understand the pose-and-watch ritual, so the interaction feels native rather than imported.

What makes this more than a tech demo?

The outcome is personal and physical. The tech disappears behind an experience and a takeaway that visitors actually want.

What is the main lesson for experiential design?

Anchor the interaction in a familiar behavior, then reward participation with an artifact that makes the moment portable.

The Escape Service: Press the red button

DDB Paris creates a new service for the French rail booking site Voyages-sncf.com. “The Escape Service” lets people escape to any destination they want by simply pushing a magical red button.

Together with the French collective Pleix, they design three celebrations that emerge from a 3×3 meter black box that unfolds like a giant jack-in-the-box. In Paris, the cube lures passers-by in, asks where they want to go, then bursts into a destination-themed surprise and hands out a mock ticket for the chosen trip.

The film also ends by inviting viewers to press the button themselves and experience a first-person view version of the Escape Service. That first-person view version is a POV cut where the camera takes your place at the button.

A black box that behaves like a travel shortcut

The mechanism is deliberately minimal. There is one obvious choice, press the red button. The payoff is oversized, because the box transforms into a celebration that makes “go anywhere” feel real without explaining routes, prices, or schedules.

In European rail and travel marketing, turning an abstract promise like “escape” into a public, physical moment helps people imagine the journey instantly.

Why the red button is the real interface

The button turns travel intent into an action you can perform in one second. That matters because it removes hesitation. You do not need to “plan” to participate. You only need curiosity, and the street does the rest.

Extractable takeaway: When your promise is intangible, make the first step a one-second action that people can try without planning, then let the payoff do the explaining.

What the campaign is really proving for Voyages-sncf.com

This is not about a single destination. It is about choice and immediacy. The idea says: if you can decide on the spot, you can book on the spot. The mock ticket detail pushes the story from spectacle into something you can take away and show.

The real question is whether your service promise can be compressed into one action people will try without needing more information.

This kind of one-action interface is worth copying when you need to turn curiosity into intent fast.

Moves to borrow from the red-button mechanic

Reduce the interaction to one decision. One button is better than a menu when you need street participation.
Make the reward visible to bystanders. If spectators can understand the payoff, the crowd recruits the next person.
Personalize the outcome fast. A destination choice and a ticket-like takeaway make the moment feel “mine”.
Bridge offline to online without forcing it. A first-person online version extends reach without changing the story.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The Escape Service” for Voyages-sncf.com?

It is a public pop-up experience where a black box invites people to press a red button, choose a destination, and trigger a surprise celebration that dramatizes the idea of escaping by train.

Why use a red button and a box?

Because it is self-explanatory. A single button removes friction and creates a clear before-and-after moment that people remember and film.

What makes this more than a stunt?

The mechanic maps cleanly to the service promise: pick a destination and go. The mock ticket detail turns the experience into a personal travel intent, not only entertainment.

How does this support online booking?

It makes “decide and book” feel effortless. The film’s first-person online extension reinforces that the same impulse can continue digitally.

What is the transferable lesson for service marketing?

When your product is intangible, build a physical interface that compresses the benefit into one action and one memorable payoff.

Virtually Homeless: SMS Projection

A life-size homeless man appears on a wall in New York. You can walk past like you always do. Or you can text a number and change what happens next.

Virtually Homeless is an interactive projection designed to pull attention back to a problem most people have learned to filter out. Passers-by interact by sending an SMS. That message triggers the projected sequence. A door appears. The man gets up and enters the house. Then a call to action appears inviting people to send another SMS to make a donation.

A small action with a visible consequence

The mechanism is direct. One text creates an immediate, legible outcome in public space. The story is not told to you. It is completed by you, with viewer control, meaning the passer-by’s SMS determines the next scene, delivered through the simplest mobile behavior available.

In city-scale public-interest work, the hardest challenge is getting people to notice what they have trained themselves not to see.

Why the interaction lands

This works because it offers a safe first step. The first SMS is not a donation ask. It is an action that feels like help, and the payoff is instant. Only after the participant has “done something” does the piece earn the right to ask for money. This two-step order is the right default when the goal is donation follow-through. The real question is whether your first interaction earns participation before it asks for money.

Extractable takeaway: If your cause message is being ignored, start by giving people a low-commitment action that produces an immediate, visible result. Then place the donation ask second, when the person has already crossed the psychological threshold from observer to participant.

The intent behind the two-step design

The installation converts attention into a simple sequence. Notice. Act. Then decide whether to contribute. The second SMS is framed as the next logical step, not an abrupt guilt pivot.

It also changes the social dynamic. Because the interaction happens in public, the moment becomes shared. People can watch someone else intervene, which reduces the feeling that “this is not my business.”

What to borrow for your own cause activation

Make the first action easy. Remove apps, forms, and explanation. Start with one native behavior.
Pay back instantly. Show a clear change the moment the user acts.
Ask second. Earn the right to request money by letting people participate first.
Keep dignity in mind. The creative should restore humanity, not turn the subject into a prop for spectacle.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Virtually Homeless”?

It is an interactive street projection where passers-by send an SMS to trigger a sequence in which a projected homeless man enters a home, followed by a prompt to text again to donate.

Why use SMS instead of a QR code or app?

SMS is native, fast, and widely understood. It reduces friction at the exact moment someone is deciding whether to engage, which matters more than novelty in public space.

What makes the two-step flow effective?

The first step is participation with immediate feedback. The donation ask comes after the person has already acted, which increases follow-through versus leading with a request for money.

What should the first SMS ask people to do?

Ask for a simple, non-monetary action that triggers an immediate visible change, so the participant feels helpful before you introduce the donation step.

How do you do something like this ethically?

Design for dignity, avoid humiliation or mockery, and ensure the call to action points to credible help. The interaction should invite empathy and contribution, not consumption of someone else’s suffering.