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Giant Projected Coins Tell the Stories Behind Thai Currency

'GA-SAAP' is an interactive installation that sheds light on the history of Thailand.
Bit Studio's GA-SAAP wall of giant coins at the Coin Museum Treasury Department Thailand. Images courtesy the artists

Since the dawn of civilization, coinage and culture have gone hand in hand. To learn the basics about a city, for instance, one often only needs to look as far as its minted money for insight into important figures, mottos, and architectural landmarks. For a project commissioned by the Coin Museum Treasury Department Thailand, Bangkok-based creative application developers Bit Studio have transformed Thai coins into an immersive, interactive learning experience. Known as GA-SAAP (which means “coin” in Thai), the work employs motion graphics, projection mapping, and a little bit of augmented reality to tell the story of the history and evolution of Thai currency.

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Says Bit Studio, "On one side, coin represent its nation wealth, yet the other side lies the stories and history of its owner. The evolution and social condition were animated interactively on the visitors hand for innovative way of learning in the museum [sic]." When visitors hold circular brochures up to an installation wall featuring enlarged versions of local bhat coins, animated stories of Thai trade get projected onto their white surfaces. "In the technical aspect, a C++ programming framework named Cinder is used as our foundation with 2 Kinects as depth sensors and 2 projectors as displays," Bit Studio explains. "The depth images from sensors are calibrated and processed with OpenCV to align the depth images and content graphics, so that the projectors display the graphics correctly on the brochure." The result is an accessible, educational, and immersive exhibition that gives visitors firsthand experiences of the trade that created modern Thailand.

Click here to learn more about GA-SAAP.

Bit Studio: GA-SAAP from Bit Studio on Vimeo.

Click here to visit Bit Studio's website.

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