VideoMob: Connecting Strangers Through Inclusive Digital Crowds
An interactive video installation by artist Emily Grenader, created with Danilo Gasques and many collaborators. Each visitor records a short video that joins a large, growing crowd of strangers.
The Concept
VideoMob belongs to artist Emily Grenader's series of works about crowds. Where a crowd usually dissolves the individual into the mass, VideoMob does the opposite — each visitor records a short video of themselves, and that clip is composited into the crowd alongside everyone who came before. The result is a portrait that is collective and personal at once: a mob you can still pick yourself out of.
The work is inclusive by design: anyone who steps in front of the camera joins the crowd, regardless of when or where they took part.
How It Works
Participants take part one at a time: they step in front of a camera and record a short clip. The system separates each person from their background and composites them into a single scene, so recordings made minutes — or years — apart appear to share the same space. The crowd keeps growing as more people join.
The interaction asks nothing of participants but their presence — no instructions, no technical knowledge — even though the compositing behind it is complex.
Installations
VideoMob has taken many forms since 2013, each realized with a different group of collaborators. A few that stand out:
VideoMob
The original VideoMob, built by Danilo Gasques and Fernando da Silva Nos as a summer collaboration.
CrowdCave
An immersive version that surrounded audiences with stereoscopic digital crowds inside UC San Diego's VR cave, created with Jimmy Nguyen, Sylvia Li, and Wender Xavier. Photos →
VideoMob at the Port of San Diego
A large-scale projection of the digital crowd in a public atrium at the Port of San Diego, created with Harsha Kenchareddy.
VideoMob at the DIB
A green-screen version staged as a central interactive artwork for the November 18, 2021 grand opening of UC San Diego's Design and Innovation Building (DIB).
Gallery
Publication
Grenader, E., Gasques Rodrigues, D., da Silva Nos, F., & Weibel, N. (2015). The VideoMob interactive art installation connecting strangers through inclusive digital crowds. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems (TiiS).
Team
Emily Grenader, M.F.A., Danilo Gasques, Ph.D., Fernando da Silva Nos, Jimmy Nguyen, Sylvia Li, Wender Xavier, Harsha Kenchareddy, Nadir Weibel, Ph.D.