Poppy, Leftwing Idiot and I went to the Barbican Centre this evening to see a temporary interactive installation that our friend Tommy Mitchell’s been involved in creating. The installation, called Hidden Fields, is there for this weekend only.

Hidden Fields uses a fusion of 3D imaging with cutting-edge science to create an installation that’s visually stunning and instantly playful. There’s a large screen onto which hundreds of atoms are projected. People are then invited to become the performance by moving about in front of the screen. The projection interacts in real time with the participants and converts their movements into patterns of energy. It’s mesmerising to watch and play around with.

We watched five professional dancers use this incredible technology to create a stunning performance. Then I had a go. I soon forgot that I was in the middle of the Barbican. It was riveting to watch my movements represented as energy, rather than as the solid reflection I’d get in a mirror. I always find it awkward to see myself in the mirror when I’m ticcing. But here it was fascinating to watch my energy moving on the screen. Poppy and Leftwing Idiot said that even just as silhouetted movements my tics were very familiar and recognisable.

Watching other people use the screen, it seemed as if it enabled them to move in a less inhibited way than usual. My movements are always uninhibited, but what Hidden Fields enabled me to do was to see my motor tics in a new way that was both comfortable and compelling to watch.