final project – Limbo (Dark Object)

Title:

Limbo

About my project:

This project is to comment on the cancer patients and their battle to cure their sickness. We wanted to put the audience in the shoes of patient who had gone through chemotherapy and to constantly link it back to a clinical experience(as chemotherapy usually has multiple sessions.). Through this work we wish to evoke multiple emotions, like fear, annoyance, wariness, which are quite typical emotions these patients have experienced, an tie it back to the medical setting and procedures.. We start it off with a set of clinical procedure/ instruction that everyone has to follow,

pump 3 times to clean their hands
wear the clinical mask

and then only for the person interacting:

put on isolation gown
put on wig and check reflection

The isolation gown is to isolate the participant and removing his/ her identity. The use of fragmented mirror is to ensure that the viewers can never get a fully see themselves, which being out the emotion on how the a lot patients felt during illness, curing and healing process. Cancer patients becoming delirious and hallucinate during final stages due to the high dosage of strong painkillers, which is why the fragmented mirror to show the illusion.

My observational documentation:

3 user tests

Tester A: He had some trouble putting on the isolation gown and when he picks up the wig the sound had already gone off. He left it on for quite some time and the quickly got the wig off after the flat line was heart for about 5 seconds. He felt annoyance and a bit of fear and felt like the volume of the sound is a little too loud. He feels that the mirror serves its purpose.

Tester B: She likes hat everyone has to go through the same procedure before entering the class. was shock when the sound came on before she put it on but she could relate to the interaction work as it really brings her back to back then when she had to go through surgery. She likes the mirror too. She was one of the quickest to remove the wig after she out it on as it had triggered memories.

Tester C: She was the calmest and said that she the fact that everyone if watching her and also wearing a mask, really set the environment and the tone of the interaction. She also likes the mirror and even though the sound of the flat line was annoying, she left the wig on the longest as she was trying to fix it perfectly with the aid of the fragmented mirror.

Design Process documentation

Testing the code.

For more information on Project Developing

For more information on Body Storming

Pre-installation(fragmented mirror):

Materials Needed:
Vanity Mirrors
Photo Frame
Mounting Tape
Glue Gun

Steps:
1. We went to buy these items from IKEA.

2. To create a 3D effect on the mirror, we bought 4 mirrors and put them together when cracking them by using hammer and hot glue.

3. We detach Photo frame backing and layer slowly the mirrors slowly. We use fabric to push the mirrors forward and act as a filler and support the mirrors.

4. We glue gun the back even more to ensure further support and then mount the back to the wall

Installation:

Materials Needed:

Hand Sanitiser
Surgical Mask
Isolation Gown
Instructional Signs
Wig
Fragmented mirror
Stand
Trash bin

Steps:
1. We bought medical supplies from a walk in medical supply store.

2. There are 2 tables being set up. One inside the class and outside.

3. Sanitize and mask is being placed outside the class with instructions.

4. Isolation gown and wig is being placed inside the class, followed by the wig on the stand and the fragmented mirror on the wall

5. The laptop and speaker is inside the trash bin

Feedback:

Coding in Arduino and Processing:

These are the coding.

The circuit setup

Project Development Drawing

For our object, it is a wig. The wig is placed on a head mannequin which will be infront of this full size mirror.

How does your audience experience your project?

What the audience have to do it to just pick up the wig and look at themselves in the mirror.

Is it for a single person to engage with your project or for multiple participants concurrently?

just one person.

What is the interaction or situation you are creating for your audience?

There will be photocell and a sound generator that will cause the wig to produce moans made by males during sex.

The viewer sound feel uncomfortable and if it is a guy, his masculinity should be questioned and if it is a girl, she is suppose to feel disconnected to her body.

What is the intention of this interaction?

This is to shine light on gender dysphoria and the disconnections between the bodies and minds of the trans community.

Uncomfortable interaction

Uncomfortable interactions are those that cause a degree of discomfort and possible suffering to the user. In a world that is dominated by entertainment, a lot of us have a desire for stimulation or reaction toward it. These experiences demonstrate a complicated relationship between pleasure and suffering that may stimulate powerful emotions. Such discomfort may naturally tend to the participant’s focus on their own feelings, evoking both the intensity and memorability of their experience. Such uncomfortable interactions may sometimes help establish an appropriate tone for engaging with dark themes, demanding a deep personal commitment, reducing the risk of trivialization, and in turn, promoting respect, understanding, and care. Another way in which discomfort may lead to enlightenment is through interpretation from the participants. For example, delaying interactions could actually introduce a decent level of discomfort and displeasure in the form of frustration and eagerness and wanting to know what is next. Deliberate use of ambiguity causes participants to raise expectations and causes the relationship to the experience to be subject to interpretation.

The usual forms of these uncomfortable interactions are usually through artistic performance, cultural practice or social experiments.

The four primary forms of discomfort are referred to as visceral, cultural, control and intimate.

Visceral discomfort defines as those aspects that most directly relate to physical sensation, from the unpleasant feel of materials, like leather or tight clothing, to demanding stressful or strenuous movements, to causing pain. Cultural discomfort is to seek out discomfort by creating interactions that invoke dark cultural associations or by evoking dark memories (abuse, war etc.).

Discomfort through control involves distorting this typical balance of control. Humans have the nature of control of the interface, hence they would prefer to control the interface rather than the interface controls them. To experience the discomfort, participants are suggested to give up their control. Discomfort through intimate is the intimate interactions with the participants with a wide variety of the different types of interfaces, usually with a view to enabling emotional connections and provide ease to stress, sexual frustrations, anxiety and provide enhanced well-being.

Reference:

https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/18s2-dn1010-tut-g02/wp-content/uploads/sites/3044/2019/02/uncomfortable.pdf

Micro-Project 3 – Together Split

We decided on creating a video depicting life, from birth to growing up and then to marriage, using Instagram’s video call.

While creating this video, we faced a lot of problem. As it was difficult to film the video as it was really hard to have 5 people synchronizing them together, on top of that, there is a lot of reliance on the internet. Due to that, our app kept crashing because our school WiFi is not as good.However, we stuck together and tried really hard to communicate regardless. Even with all the struggles, we overcame them and produced a pretty good video.

I believe that Project 1 has the most creative control, as we have control over both the process and the content. We capture what we want to put out and we kinda sculptured the intended response from the viewers.

I felt like Project 2 best illustrate DIWO and Open Source and he most unpredictable outcome. This is because there is no restriction and control in what could happen and it is totally up to the viewers to fully interact with us. The whole situation is unpredictable and the outcome really blew us away. We totally did not expect that so many people would throw their morals always and break the law for that short term pleasure.

Mirco Project 2: Crowd Sourced Time Based Art

We made a fake Grinder profile as a 15 years old boy.

Motive: With no restriction, we went on to chat with all the boys (>18 years old), prompting them with some sexual “rewards”. We wanted to see if they will go after a underage boy for their lust and temporary pleasure. We also want to see if staying anonymous is important to them on this site, especially when they do not know if the profile we made is real or not.

Platform: Grinder

Prediction: Some says yes, most says no, since everyone n the site has to be 18 and above.

The profile created:

We provide the crowd with full freedom, with no restriction on what kind of reaction or information they wish to provide about themselves.

From the start, we would tell them that this boy is 15 years old. To our surprise, a lot of them did not care and either start off the conversation with a picture of them or after we ask for a picture. When we prompt for some inappropriate pictures, some gave it to us and there was barely any hesitation.

Some of them tried to deny the request after finding out that the boy was 15 years old, however, it does not take a lot of convincing to change their mind.

However, there are some hope for humanity and a few of them said no. Honestly, I did not expect most of them to be so desperate and complete disrespect the the law. The sexual reward is so huge, but also an instant pleasure, that most of them push aside their morals and values.

However, this project is also questioning our integrity in terms of catfishing these people.

Micro Project 1: Creating the Third Space

I think that the idea of space ranges from physical, emotional, mental etc.

Hence the space I picked is the washroom. It is a place that you want it to be clean but obviously is one of the filthiest places. The washroom isn’t just a physical space where you go in to do your business, for me it is a little different, a little more.

This place, the washroom, probably has the most amount and the widest range of personalities compared to this other spaces around school. People come and go but somehow, be it the water that was splashed or the tissue on the floor, they will leave their mark somewhere… it’s like they never left.

The four walls can be viewed as a dungeon, trapping you, or as a escape room, protecting you. The washroom has always been my escape room, it is my third space: a safe mental space. It is filled with vulnerability and filth. It is a place I let down my guards, and relax. I go there to escape from boredom, but mainly from social anxiety. My mind if free here, it is at ease. It is just a spot to alone, free from stares, free from questionings, free from judgement. I feel safe, blocked out from reality, but it is all in my head.