Category Archives: Project Dev. & Planning

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
Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.32.02 pm
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

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 9.02.03 am

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.

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 8.58.26 am Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 10.33.08 pm

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.

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 8.54.05 am Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 8.54.57 am

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 Narrowing It Down

It’s now time for the Second Phase.

I am going to cut down to 2 projects.

  1. The Exercise (previously known as The Run)
  2. The Dome: Heaven & Hell Project.
  1. The Exercise will be education interactive installation that targets healthy living and promoting exercising in a very fun way. Inspired by Legible City by the artist Jeffrey Shaw, users are able to interactive physically with real sporting equipments. These sporting actions such as lifting up a dumbbell for example, will be capture by a camera which will then calculate the amount of energy the user have used in doing the action. By displaying the number of calories burned in real time, users are motivated to keep doing to achieve the target and to move on to the next level. Below is the network diagram on how this project will work.
    The ExerciseWBS

    The Exercise WBS

    The Exercise

    The Exercise Network Diagram

    2. The Dome: Heaven & Hell Project is an interactive installation that will allow user to experience the sensorial experience that is the experience of being in Heaven or Hell. The concept of heaven and hell is a very undefined hence this installation is an simulation of what it could be. Playing with lights, projection, smoke, fire, fan and sound, these different elements would be combined to simulate different experiences. Using different knowledge of the idea of heaven & hell, different elements could be turned on by sensors according to the visitor’s movement. Being in a dome would make this project an advantage compare to a room.

    The Dome WBS

    The Dome WBS

    The Dome Network Diagram

    The Dome Network Diagram

The One With The Real Justin

It was really interesting and in fact very shocking to hear that a game needs that much of money to develop and to put it out in the market. The gaming world is no fun and games after all. Get it?

ss-1

As much as Justin wanted to leave on time, he was very open to his knowledge and did not mind going over time answering real questions from us. ss-2

But justin before you go, I got a final question to ask you. Do you even game bro?

The One With The Justin Bieber I Mean Cubetractor

Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 12.51.28 pm

Cubetractor looks like an interesting and addictive game! That is why I didn’t start playing!

Anyway, I have a couple of questions for Justin.

  1. Which is more important? Art & Design aspect or the Programming aspect? Or how much percentage of each makes up an 100%?
  2. How would you defend gaming in general when gaming has such a bad influence on people? For example, destroying their own television on a burst of anger. Killing people because they think real life is like playing Grand Theft Auto.
  3. There are so many games archetype right now. Cubetractor follows the concept of tower defence. So how to ensure that one creates a game that is really unique and keeping the players to keep on playing?

I see you later guys.

The One With The Assignment 2

The extension of a case studies is actually a good way to take someone else’s ideas and push it even further. I find it hard to find a good one because honestly, not all the case studies is that interesting actually. With that being said, right now I am going to use Vladimir’s documentary, Karst. The reason I chose this case studies as it is one of the projects that I can relate to and it is something that I would do.

As Karst is a documentary that revolves around an architect and a family of stonemasons as they build a house for a diplomat, I would extend the film into an exhibition. This is because I feel that the essence of the documentary is about how traditional craftsmanship is still being used and it is a dying trade. Hence, my proposal would be an exhibition that people can learn more about the stonemasons and their ability, on top of the film.

VLT01

If you look at the top view of the house that was erected, the layout is pretty interesting and I would like to use this same layout as the layout for this exhibition. Furthermore, it make perfect sense as visitors would get to know the house a little bit better in terms of its spatial design and space. In the exhibition, there will be a showcase of the machinery being used, more information about the stone and also the documentation process on how the house was being built.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I know there are many exhibition/installation that is based on a tv show or a movie. For example, there is a Game of Thrones exhibition that is going on now somewhere which I have no idea but I see it pictures. These exhibitions usually tend to promote the film and also to invite people to interact with the objects or props that was being used in the films. There is also some interactive game/installation where people is able to participate.

Regards,
Kamarul

The One With The 10 Ideas

Let’s push myself to the limits. I am going to come up with 10 different projects for the first phase.

  1. The Perfect Modern Chair
    To design an everyday office chair which adjust according to different people’s back shape. A perfect ergonomics chair which consists of combining the idea of a bean bag and a office chair. In this project I would need a partner for this as we need to research on the ergonomics of a chair and also executing the design.
    This is a design innovation as combining the materials of bean bag which takes the shape of your body and applying it to an office chair, white collar workers will no longer have backaches while working.
    This project might take a long time as it will be a research intensive project I foresee.
  2. The iPhone Film Scanner
    Shooting photograph on a vintage SLR is very traditional and brings back nostalgic moments. It also teaches you the basic of photography as we would require to think before spamming the shutter button like we would do in a digital camera. After processing the films at a local shop, those people who wants to scan their images have trouble finding a good scanner and also have to bear the cost. This application on the smartphone would be able to do the scanning of negatives and convert it to a jpeg file.
    Definitely need 2 other partners to work on the engineering part and also the programming part as well.
    This application would be one of a kind in the market, a big market for film photography enthusiasts! This project would be a real challenge to make it into a reality and it could be very expensive to make.
  3. The Run
    The run is an interactive Virtual Reality game that promotes exercise with gaming. With different scenario being selected, gamers are transport to a city where they are require to run away from the enemy. This game would require many platforms such as the xbox and the VR application. This game would probably need a budget of $5000 for research and programming. I would need a team of 3 for this as it will require many different stages of processes.
    This game would promote real exercise and attract gaming addicts. A real innovation in making a virtual world into a physical space.
    It might be boring after a while, too stagnant.
  4. The Museum of Contemporary Art Tanjong Pagar (MCATP)
    The current Tanjong Pagar Railway Station is now being emptied after they moved out and relocate to the Woodlands Causeway Centre. The historical building could be renovated and turn into a contemporary space for art and design. This renovation will take about 4 years to complete and once completed, it will attract many art lovers into Singapore from the region. High budget for this one maybe around 20-30 million dollars. I would need a large team for this project.
    This project will be ground breaking and be an attraction for Singapore. Audience guaranteed.
    Could be expensive and could become a fad.
  5. The Sound of Light
    To come up with an audiovisual installation that explores the uses of solenoid and light. It will be a soundscape experience for people to experience the sound of machinery, based on data and statistics. A solo project by me that could cost about $500 to develop within a year. A possible FYP project. It will be in a grand scale where people will experience something very different. Even though a novelty project but it explores the boundaries and definition of art. It could be too experimental for some people and finding a location and space suitable could be a challenge.
  6. The Book Of Wires
    This is a project to publish a book about wires & cables. With beautiful visuals and concise information and instructions, everyone will have no problem identifying the different kind of wires & cables for different uses anymore! Think of a dictionary, of colourful wires & cables!
    I would need 2 more partners, to design the layout of the book and another one in charge of photographing the visuals. Budget possibly around $500 for a small amount of copies.
    This is a very useful and informative book for those who wants to learn about IT and Engineering as well! Plus its an artsy book!
    Challenges faced could expensive and time consuming as publishing a book is not an easy process.
  7. The Body
    The Body is an experimental short film that explores the activities inside of a human body that make us function on a daily basis. Using slow motion techniques and different props, different visuals will represent an activity a body does, for example Breathing. This film will explore the use of everyday items to recreate the science behind our anatomy.
    This project requires a team of 5 where each person would need to wear different hats such as cinematographer, cameraman, gaffer and other film related job. This would need a budget about 1 thousand as we need to get good props and cameras.
    This film will break the boundary of cinematography and open up a new genre of films, definitely will attract art students. This could be a novelty kind of project and people might not be able to understand the experimental aspect of this project.
  8. The Rest Of The World In Singapore
    This is a photo documentation project to find and photograph people of different nationality living in Singapore. In other words, to photograph at least 1 people from different countries whose living in Singapore. As Singapore opens up its door to expats and foreigners to come to Singapore, it is possible that at least one people from all the 196 countries is living in Singapore.
    This would be a solo project and budget of $500 would be sufficient to complete this project, mainly spending on transportation.
    This would be an impossible feat to do but if completed, it will definitely receive a lot of recognition.
    This project could be time consuming and might take longer than 1 year to complete.
  9. The Hive
    The Hive is the newest building to be added in NTU located at the South Spine. It’s architecture is very unique and what better way than to take advantage of the building by using projection mapping onto the facade. This projection mapping would project graphics and videos to tell the story of NTU and its history.
    I would need 2 more people to help with the content creation and of course the technical aspect of this project. This project would cost an estimation of $3000 as the bulk of the money would definitely spend on loaning at least 6 powerful projectors.
    This would be a sight not to be miss as this will be the first time a projection mapping is being done onto the Hive.
  10. The Dome: The Heaven/Hell Project
    Using the dome system, this project would combine all the interactive aspect that I have learnt in class and integrate it into the dome. By using sensors, motors and lights, this site specific dome would create an experience of Heaven or Hell. These 2 ideal places have been describe through history of times and it would be my turn to interpret the experience inside the dome.
    A solo project which could be a potential for FYP. Budget would cost about $400.
    This would be a crowd pleaser and many people would be eager to try out this experience themselves.
    Project could be expensive and integrating many systems into one could be a challenge.

These are 10 good projects actually that I have come up. Each of them is something that I would want to do honestly.

filmcamera-29

Fun fact: When the school bought the new dome, I was one of the team that first erected the dome from scratch. We were taught by the people from Russia who came here just to teach us how to build them. It was a very long process during the workshop. Quite an experience actually!

The One With The Imperfect Pitch Part 2

Conceptualising ideas quickly usually has its drawback, they are quick, lazy and lack substance. But I am going to try one anyway.

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  1. To create an interactive sound scape installation that explores the issue of construction. This installation will made up of objects related to construction, that will produce abstract sound, based on data related to figures and numbers on the topic of construction.
    Gant Chart of the First Project

    Gant Chart of the First Project

  2.  To renovate and refurbish the old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and turn it into a museum of contemporary art. Keeping the exterior and interior design intact, modern renovation will make this place one of the top art museum in the region.TheTrip1
  3. To produce, write and direct a short art film related to the issue of birth and death. This experimental art film will take place inside a human body. Working with resources from the school will only require us to spend money on props.

The application is not really user friendly i guess. I given up as it is really complicated to use this software to come up with a work task. I probably do it much faster on a piece of paper. But I can understand how hard for project managers to plan schedule for a project.

The One With The Pitching of Ideas

For the pitching of ideas, I have come up with two of them below.

armory

For a project with a partner, I would like to curate the world’s largest art fair ever. It will consists of one gallery from each country, yes from each country in the world, all 196 countries. This will be a clash of cultures, ideologies, art and many more! Way larger than Art Basel and all the other biennale combine.

analog-12

For a project with myself, I would like to come up with an outdoor interactive art installation exploring the issue of construction and progression. It will be a though provoking installation that will question the role of our nation builders.

The One With The Processing Plant

Since this week’s reading is about budget control, i think my questions for Professor Louis-Philippe Demers couldn’t be more relevant.

Does budget ever a problem for you to design and execute your robotics sculptures/artworks?

As I imagined they are very expensive to build as they need very special parts and mechanism, is there a work where you changed some aspect of it to fit in the budget that you have?

Furthermore, do you think budget should ever be a problem for us students? Do working with budget constraints only push our creativity to the maximum?

I would also like to argue that working with budget constraints is a very important issue as we will not be able to make our idea a vision if we have no money to buy materials. So when this happens, our ideas shift towards a different direction to cater to our budget instead. How do we deal with this problems as a student?

inferno

If there is a specific work I have to ask question for, it would be the recent Inferno. How does working alone and working with a partner different? Does a clash of ideas always happen and how did you and bill manage to finalise on an idea?