Visitors to a new exhibition can mould falling letters to the shape of their bodies using computer art at a Sussex gallery.

A video installation called Text Rain, at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery was chosen to launch Hospital Festival.

The interactive piece, made by New York artists Romy Achituv and Camille Utterback, involves a screen with a pinhole camera in the centre.

It films the viewer and projects the image back on to the screen.

Words from two lines of poetry pour from the top of the screen and, due to a software package designed by the artists, react to the outline of the viewers' bodies.

People are able to actually reach out and shape letters into words or watch random sentences form across their image on screen.

This is the first time the piece has been seen in the UK and it promises to be successful, according to Hospital Festival and Lighthouse director Evelyn Wilson.

She said: "When people go into the museum space they are immediately drawn into the work and play with it in a way not many pieces of art are successful in achieving.

"This is a really fun and playful work and it's as fascinating and compelling for kids as it is for adults.

"It also deals with serious art theories such as notions of the virtual and performance and video art. It's a complex work on that level, while offering simple fun too."

The piece can be seen until November 17.

Hospital is a new festival developed by Lighthouse Media Centre which taking place in Brighton.

It showcases creative interactive, sound-based and visual installations and hosts workshops.

For a list of events visit www.hospitalfestival.org.uk