The One With The Full Circle

Gathered more LED Strips and got almost a full circle for the half dome. Given the shape of the iDome, it was interesting to see how the lights bounce onto the plain of the dome. more-1
I tried with different colours and each colours have a different mood to it. more-2 more-3 I tried putting a glitch image on the background but I think it does not help in making the work better.more-4

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That was until I choose a plain colour background for the projector and I was really pleased with the results. By choosing a coloured background, the projector almost become a primary source of coloured light. With the blue LED strips, the combination of blue and green was quite pleasing and interesting to see.more-5Red and blue is also another beautiful combination. The 2 colours seems to blend into each other but at the same time, you can still see the blue and red separately. more-7 more-9 more-10

The One With The LEDs On IDome

I was inspired by James Turrell and his work of lights. I wanted to find out myself the experience visitors feel when they experience a James Turrell artwork. I also imagine that in my final piece, I would want a segment where only LED Lights will be on. I also want to push the boundaries of Dome artworks and I want to introduce the LED lights inside the dome.idome-1I make use of the half Dome, which is also known as the iDome, to experiment with the lights. I attached LED lights onto the edges of the dome, which in turn, create some kind of effect. Even though I only have 2 strips, I am able to visualise the effect it has.

 

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It almost feel like a giant earth.idome-3 I feel having more lights around this half dome will improve the experience.idome-4

I tried juxaposing it with footages that is available in the computer to get a sense of scale and dynamic between the screen two mediums.

 

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The next step is for me to get more LED lights and make one whole round on the iDome.

The One With The Idea

After the first presentation of my Final Year Project, I realised the semester is not that long after all. Up to that point, I wasn’t sure of what my directions are but thanks to my supervisor Prof. LP, I stick to my main idea which is to use the Dome. With the help of Prof. LP as well in giving inputs, I am going to built a structure inside the dome to raise the eye level of the visitor. While the idea of raising the eye level is not clearly define yet at the moment, but what is clear is that there will be a device that will facilitate the movement of the visitor to help the visitor to experience a more immersive experience inside the dome. I will be sharing works of immersive installation that inspiring and useful in my ideation stage.

Signing out,
K.

The One With The Final Year Project Pilot

Dear Kamarul,

Last semester I proposed a dome installation for my final year project, portraying heaven & hell inside the dome. Back then, I know that I wanted to work with the dome as I feel it is an interesting medium to explore. Heaven & Hell was just something that I came up with in an instant. About 2 weeks ago, I had my first meeting with my supervisor and he asked me an important question, do I want to work with the dome or on the topic of heaven & hell? I couldn’t give a straight answer but it got me thinking. Today, it is still something that lingers in my mind but I feel like I have an answer already. Yes, I do want to work with the dome! This brings me to the first step, searching what is the dome and the history behind it. Let’s look at some of the uses of dome throughout history.

This is the Treasury of Atreus located in Mycenae, Greece, constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250BCE. It is a beehive dome and basically is was a tomb.

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It was built underground.Schatzhaus_des_Atreus,_Querschnitt

Next, we have the world famous Pantheon in Rome. It was built to house the Gods and this is another uses of the dome.

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There is the oculus in the middle of the dome to let light shine through and light up the space.

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Another famous dome is of course the Dome Of The Rock. The Dome shape has also become the architectural symbol of Islam as well as most mosque has the dome as an identification.

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Another famous dome would be the Brunelleschi’s Dome over at the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.

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It is a very grand scale project and during the time, the construction of the dome was considered as an architectural genius by the Brunelleschi. Florence-Duomo-Nov07-RAW4827AR900

Igloo, the snow house, can be considered as a dome as well. igloo-against-blue-sky

Another famous monument is the Taj Mahal. Built by Shah Jahan for his wife, the main architecture stands out is of douse the dome located at the top of the building. The Taj Mahal is of course an mausoleum.

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Another dome like structure would be the Stupas. Below, the great Stupa at Sanchi was built to honour and shelter the relics of the buddha.

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Now let’s take a look at some of the modern domes. These 2 below are Geodesic dome.

geodesic dome is a hemisphericalthin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a network of geodesics (great circles) on the surface of a sphere or a hemisphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements, which have local, triangular rigidity, and so distribute the structural stress throughout the geodesic sphere.

This is the Biosphere, located in Montreal. It is a museum dedicated to the environment. I guess it make sense as a dome can seen as a sustainable design and it fits with the theme of the museum, of taking care of the environment.800px-Mtl._Biosphere_in_Sept._2004

Below is called the Eden Project, located in Cornwall, England.

The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species,and each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated, plastic cells supported by steel frames. The largest of the two biomes simulates a Rainforest environment and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The attraction also has an outside botanical garden which is home to many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK in general; it also has many plants that provide an important and interesting backstory, for example, those with a prehistoric heritage.

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It is such an interesting sight to see such massive structure. Even though the design of the dome is not organic, it takes some time to get used to seeing it in the landscape.

I started out researching on the history of the dome and I am surprise with all the informations that I got. I never really realise that the dome design have been used through out history. I feel that this part of knowing the history is important as I feel that the symbolism of the usage of dome can be important in my work as well. So far we have seen that the shape of the dome has been used as place for worship, sheltering, honouring, a place for mourning and also a place of research. The usage dome have evolved through out time and different cultures and religions has its own way of defining the dome.

For my own final year project, I wish to inject some history of the dome design into my project. I see the dome as my medium and not just a place for someone to enter and see a 360 film. I want the dome to be more than just a space for people to watch some video. They must leave the dome feeling different.

 

The One With The Hardknocks Installation

There are the final images for today’s installation! What a day to end Interactive Spaces! I would definitely can imagine this going to a gallery and hang it on a wall and hide those wires behind those walls! Hardknocks (1 of 10) Is this taken at ADM? Nope it is not. Hardknocks (3 of 10)

The solenoid works!Hardknocks (4 of 10)

Definitely can do better with the wires organisation.Hardknocks (5 of 10)

Oh look the wires are gone! Hardknocks (8 of 10) Hardknocks (9 of 10) Hardknocks (10 of 10)

Going to edit the videos and post it on the next post!

Cheers,
Kamarul

The One With The Dome Project

For my final presentation last week, I proposed an interactive installation taking place inside a dome which is going to stimulate the sensorial experience of being in heaven & hell. I chose this project because it allows me to experiment with different mixture of visuals, sound, lighting and environment all in one project. So this final post for Assignment 3 will be dedicated to the final presentation which I will summarise in this post. filmcamera-30The reason for making it inside a dome is that a dome has no corners, giving the visitors the perception that it is in a infinity space. Furthermore, the projection on the dome has an immersive experience for the visitors to enter and watch.

To visualise Heaven & Hell is quite a challenged as nobody has ever been to heaven or hell and came back with a story to tell. Hence, I would actually get those descriptions from the holy book of different religions. For example, the bible and the Quran.

8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

– Revelation 21:8

The above passage describes hell as a fiery lake of burning sulfur. From this verse, the visuals can be interpret in many ways to match the description.

Verily! The Muttaqun (pious – see V.2:2), will be in place of Security (Paradise). Among Gardens and Springs; Dressed in fine silk and (also) in thick silk, facing each other, So (it will be), and We shall marry them to Houris (female fair ones) with wide, lovely eyes. They will call therein for every kind of fruit in peace and security;

– Quran 44: 51-55

This passage from the Quran describes Heaven as Paradise and words such as Gardens & Springs are being used to describe Heaven. From those few words, some colours and texture immediately come up to mind. This will be one way for me to interpret the visuals and sounds that I will be making inside the dome.

Another famous description of Heaven and Hell would be Dante’s Divine Comedy. In the poem by Dante, he narrated the story of heaven and hell and how each has a different levels. Below is an illustration which many artists have interpret from the poem.

Another inspiration of Hell would be from Haw Par Villa, which depicts the 10 Courts of Hell. These Chinese folklore makes a good attempt in terms of really visualising what hell would look like. Definitely I am inspired by these different sculptures.

However, at the end of the day, I do not want to involve religion into the dome project. Those visuals that I will use will be interpret by my own artistic decision and will not have any attempt in making relevance to any religion. That will be my attempt in this project.

Next up, here are my Work Breakdown Structure. As you can see I have break it down to 4 parts and the above paragraphs which I will interpret from all the different source of heaven & hell would fall under Concept. Constructing the dome is also very important and how I am able to use the different equipments would be very valid. Programming is also essential as I want the whole process to be automatic. Lastly, Experimenting. This is a very important phase because in order to make the experience very abstract, experimentation of different visuals and sounds is essential in order to come up with a final choice of visuals.

The Dome WBS

The Dome WBS

Below are my Gantt Chart. I did a total of 6 milestones because I need to know the progress of my project and the milestones will do just that. The first mile stone is when I have derived on my Final Idea. And my final milestone is of course during the opening night of the ADM Grad Show! Simulation and experimentation takes a bulk of the time because I need to simulate different visuals as much as possible in order to get the visitors an experience of a lifetime. These period of ‘testing’ would make the final product more reliable and effective.

Gantt Chart

Gant Chart

The Network diagram is made up of the different equipments that I am going to use. I am planning to use max msp for this whole project as the programme allows me to speak to all different equipments. The diagram below are just some of the equipments that I am going to use. I make add even more equipments because the possibility of different combination is endless!

The Dome Network Diagram

The Dome Network Diagram

In conclusion, I would like my visitors to escape reality when they are at my installation. This installation aims to provide an out of body experience which will then questions their existence. With the help of abstract visuals and daunting sound, I want my visitors to interpret themselves the experience which they went through. Like all great art, it raise even more questions than giving answers of what is Heaven and what is hell.

Thank you.

The One With The Karst Exhibition

Continuing from my previous post on extending a case studies, here is more details of what I am going to propose. Read here for my previous post.

I have chosen to use Vladimir’s Karst documentary as my case study of choice and I am going to extend this film into an exhibition/installation. The motive of the exhibition is simple, to have the same experience of watching the full film by visiting the exhibition/installation. I feel this is the essence of my propose exhibition/installation because I want my visitor to leave the exhibition feeling like they know a little bit more about Karst and the art of construction. I find this documentary very unique because it explores the process and beauty of the Karst stone which is a very unlikely narrative in a film.

Furthermore, the full documentary length is about 1 hour and 12 minutes which is quite a long time for some people to sit down and watch. On top of that, is is not your typical blockbuster film and Vladimir’s Karst needed the audience to think and reflect as well. So with that being said, I don’t think there will be many general audience who is able to stomach Karst. However, I want the people to experience the film by going through the exhibition/installation. This is also part of the reason for this proposal as well. Now let’s take a look at what I would like to include in the exhibition/installation.

I would like to break the exhibition/installation into 3 parts.
1. The Process – Equipments/Processes
2. The Culture – Food/Celebration
3. The Art – Artworks/Artists/Influences

Firstly, the first section of the exhibition would start with The Process. In this section, I would like to highlight the process the masons take to complete the house. From setting up explosives to the final touches to the house, I would like to capture these events through the use of photographs, short videos and the physical equipments as well!

As you can see below, this is the machine used to mix the cement. This equipment would be good to include in the exhibition space as well to facilitate learning and knowledge.

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From setting up the foundation to the measuring of the walls. These important details are important, hence showing some graphics on the exhibition would be a good idea for learning more about construction.Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 8.52.06 am
This skill take a lot of practice in order to be perfect at it and I would like my visitor to experience doing this process themselves. I would propose to have a karst stone on the exhibition space and a chisel and a mallet, where visitors can learn from the experts on how to do this by hand. It will be a once in a lifetime experience!Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 8.59.27 am
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This pulley system is very interactive in a sense that it requires someone to be there to pull it back and forth. This can be used as a switch or control as part of the exhibition. For example, visitors can interact with this pulley system and whenever they move it back and forth, it will show a different photograph. Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.27.08 pm
This cutting machine cuts the rock into perfect squarish sizes. Having a video to show this would be good for learning as well. No physical machine is required as this machine can be very dangerous for the exhibition. Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.27.45 pm Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.28.07 pm
The final results of the rocks.Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.29.42 pm

This process of holding the tree branch as you can see below is still puzzled me actually. But I do know this, there seem to be some natural force that is interact with the branch. This is a very unique experience actually. I would propose this to be included in the installation/exhibition space as well so people could actually try this for themselves!Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 9.01.25 am

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Secondly, the culture of the people of Montenegro. The stonemasons family and their life is quite prominent in the film as the director wanted to highlight the lifestyle and culture of the Montenegro people. Below, you can see that their really enjoy cooking and this is evident in the two screenshots below. Even after the completion of the house, they organised a huge celebration with the lamb. I would like to highlight this in my exhibition, to include the food recipe as well as some food tasting. The culture is also very important and I would definitely highlight this in my exhibition / installation as well.

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Thirdly, the artworks. The key influence of Karst was Petar Lubarda where Vladimir dedicate this film to. Furthermore the colour treatment of the film is inspired by Petar Lubarda’s painting as Vladimir mention in an interview! Petar Lubarda was a painter and was considered one of the most important painter in the region of Montenegro. I feel that to include one of his painting in the Exhibiton/Installation would be ideal as it is also mention in the film as well. The architect visited the gallery where Petar Lubarda’s work is being exhibited and is amazed by his works. Visitors could also learn a little bit more of the artist and his artworks and how the artwork influence the film.

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To close this lengthy post, I would like to summaries my idea of proposing an exhibition/installation that will engage the visitors to learn about the essence of construction and Karst. Karst is a documentary following the life of a stonemason family and their work processes. This is a very interesting documentary and by highlighting certain key moments into the exhibition space, the message of the film can be further heightened I feel. With that being said, I would to end this post with a thought, would you rather watch a 1 hour documentary or go through a 15 minutes exhibition space?

The One With The Arduino & Solenoid

Getting it powered by Arduino’s 5v is not good enough. Solenoid needs more impact so we decide to go with 12v’s Solenoid that can be found at Sim Lim Tower for a cost of $8.90. At the 3rd Level. Followed a tutorial online on how to program a solenoid and it works as well. But the part is, i would need a longer transistor.

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I also bought a 6V solenoid to test things out but it seems a 12V solenoid would work better. Hence, I bought a 12V transformer/power supply as well. 2222-2

I foresee that I would need to spend some time on the codes as well if I were to link it with Arduino.

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