MYOPTICON (2008)

myOpticon is a public thermal imaging system in the guise of a coin-op tourist attraction. Installed at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan, participants could view the thermal city scape. Thermal cameras are different from night vision in that they construct an image solely from passive infrared radiation, as emitted by all objects in relation to surface temperature. Warmer objects, such as people, appear brighter while cooler objects appear dimmer. myOpticon is also capable of taking the temperature of any object in its crosshairs. myOpticon can see just as well in pitch blackness as in broad daylight, rendering camouflage and the cover of night obsolete.  Version 2 is now in development.