Matthias den Hartog is a filmmaker and Thijs Steggink an animator and illustrator. Both are fathers and see the great value of playing and discovering for yourself. With the interactive installation Arcadans they want to teach children more about technology and media in a playful way. In addition, both makers want to further expand their own expertise with this Cross-TIC production. Matthias researches sensors, cross-media design, animation and music. Thijs focuses on interactive animation.

In Arcadans, children are challenged to program a sequence using simple visual and tactile means. On a roll that fits colored magnets, an audiovisual pattern is created, just like with a punched tape on a barrel organ, a loom or a music box. Children can make their own patterns and sequences of colored magnets and see how an animation reacts based on their position, color and speed of the roll.

Matthias and Thijs thought about how complex and unimaginable programming is in this day and age. After visiting a museum full of looms and observing music boxes, they decided to create an installation in which they take us back to the basics of programming. That’s how Arcadans came into being.

Arcadans was developed within the Cross-TIC programme under the supervision of Tetem, in collaboration with the Twente Libraries and Film Houses.

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