MIT Media Laboratory Ph.D. Student Xiao Xiao created a mesmerizing and incredible installation for Prospect.3: Notes for Now called MirrorFugue.

Featuring a high tech player piano that projects images of both the hands and the upper body of New Orleans piano players onto the piano, MirrorFugue is designed to trick the viewer’s mind into thinking the piano player is there in person.

Xiao Xiao captured Allen Toussaint, Ron Markham, Jon Cleary, and Nick Sanders for the project.

OffBeat videographer JonGunnar Gylfason sat down with Xiao Xiao to talk about her motivations for the project and why how she developed the technology.

MirrorFuge OffBeat from OffBeat Magazine on Vimeo.