In a warehouse at Fort Mason, the ominous sounds of a choir singing in Latin surround an 8-foot-tall circular projection screen. The animation you see is generated by the body movement of the singers themselves.
"I would say it's innovative art. I think that's what it is. It's lots of people actually inventing things in order to help express themselves," said music composer Mira Calix.
Calix is one of more than a dozen artists exhibiting at the creators' project this weekend in San Francisco.
"This celebration where art and technology collide to demonstrate something pretty magical, we believe," said Intel event organizer Dave Haroldsen.
Intel helped organize the event, which is now in its third year, and for the first time is being held in the city by the bay.
"San Francisco's really the heart and soul of technology," said artist Tiemen Rapati. Rapati is part of United Visual Artists.
Rapati helped create this giant living sculpture called "Origin." He calls it a machine with a personality.
"It will lure you, it will charm you and then it will... it can be violent as well," said Rapati.
Origin is interactive, responding to movement. Other exhibits respond to touch.
"I can change all the colors, I can move them around, they're magnetic," said artist Jamie Zigelbaum.
Made of over 200 tiny, custom computers, some magnetic colored blocks also tell a bigger story. More and more, people communicate through machines, but Zigelbaum's machines literally communicate through people.
"It starts to pulse and then anything else I touch will take on that color. So I can copy it through my body and it's actually sending a current through my skin to do that. I become a part of the circuit," said Zigelbaum.
Calix's piece tells a bigger story too, about the voices so often not heard.
"The choir that you hear, it's a hundred-strong choir, are all people who were homeless or who are currently homeless," said Calix.
The Creators Project runs Saturday and Sunday at Fort Mason, admission is free and though Saturday is pretty much booked up, there is still plenty of room on Sunday.
