Foundation 4D Final Project: The Library — Outcome

The Curious Mystery of Mr. Red Drum and the Best Intern

Artists: Calista Lee and Lydia Lui

Artists’ Statement
To draw people to not only the appearance of the interesting looking books of the ADM library but also the content of what is within these books, this interactive game will constitute the content of the various books to form a riddle, which will be the basis of the game.

Research and Proposal
Please refer to my first post and previous post.

Materials Prepared

Planning of Hints:

For the layout of our hints, we included:

  • Logo: The Curious Mystery of Mr. Red Drum and Bestern
  • Story Hint (provides context on murderer)
  • Name Hint (provides a letter or two letters to the murderer’s name)
  • Reference number for the next book


Books used (Reference no.)

1. Mapping it Out  (GA 108.7B13)

Pg 25: (clues to Bestern’s name, passport hint > Via the countries, leave those unvisited: First letter point to his name? Leave it vague? The dates of travel = the other pages to note)
E.g. Belgium : March 6th (Referring to: Page 36)

Pg 36: Call 92967488 (perhaps we do the paper imprint thing?)

Pg 37: first murderous intent (vaguely)

Pg 41: “Amnesia”, “Elusive character” → when bestern switches personalities, one side of him doesn’t remember the other

 

2. Less and More (TS 140. R36 L638)

Pg 293: Norm. filter low . radio; white and black dots: good and evil

 

3. Cult Fiction: Art and Comics (PN 6710 C968)

Pg 36: gist of the situation (Norm. (refer to second book) > Its a whole rant.

If you count the number of letters, it will lead to the page number. (36 letters: Page 36)
To read in between the meaning of the rant, and the underline NO. stands for number. Hint for page number.
‘Dear diary’ and ‘I am tired’ also mean to take what is in the pictorial rant as Bestern’s feelings.

 

4. OBEY (N6537. F316 B12B)

 

Pg 32: blatant jeer at the police (Think)
Pg 35: murderous intent and rebellion (Want)
Pg 50: Cult image
Pg 51: inspector
Pg 52: more police (right picture: bestern’s best intern image and personality)


(Creating a Calendar) 
E.g. 1. Apr 23 (Referring to Page 32) :
Write + In 1 Week & 2 Days more days (+ 9 more to 23 = Page 32) What do I think?

E.g. 2. Apr 30 (Referring to Page 35)
Write: + 5 more days (30+5= Page 35) What do I want?


pg 32: (Think: Thoughts) > What do I think > Bestern’s thoughts about the academy
pg 35: (Want: Aspire) > What do I want? > His goals
50: (Look: Appearance) > How do I look? > Deceiving appearnce
pg 51: (Remember: Past) > What do I remember? > Thinking of dead father
pg 52: (Strive? Questioning) > Who am I? > One represents his personality, other presents his image

 

5. AB OVO (N6494. M78 A115)

Pg 10-11: Clues to Bestern’s Name

SWONK NRETSEB (Mirrored) = BESTERN KNOWS

Missing sequential letters and numbers for decoding the message.
Once pieced, they would be able to attach and fit the numbers and letters to crack the code.
Either that, or they can just blindly locate the files.

 

6. Mommy? (PZ 7.S47 N733)

Pg with lots of trashy skeletons:

  • Bestern’s hidden motives
  • Bestern just wanted to please his mother
  • Bipolar: inner demons

 

A Chalk Outline of the body was also prepared for the murder scene (forgot to take a picture).

Case Briefing Slides found here.

Interview videos (eye witnesses, relations)

Special thanks to our actors:
Student 1: Zerline Jade
Student 2: Jaime Goh
Librarian 1: Jessabel Teng
Librarian 2: Abdul Qayyum
Classmate 1: Yulin Chin
Classmate 2: Justinne Casuga

 

Final Outcome

Story Synopsis
(This is a story of fiction.)

Bestern is the best police intern in the NTU Police Academy (NTUPA), despite being only a first year student of the Detective Sector in the NTUPA. Despite his outer appearance as the best intern, he has a dark side to him — his other self. In other words, he has a multi-personality disorder.

Bestern’s other self is full of secrets: He hates the NTUPA and how his mother forced him to enter the NTUPA just to avenge his father who was killed on campus.

Why did Bestern kill Susan Lim Wan Die?

Susan is known to be the most popular student on NTUPA campus, and makes friends even with the most eccentric students. Bestern thought he was good friends with Susan… until the day his other self came on and scared the heck out of Susan.

Susan, being an avid gossiper, told his group of popular people about Bestern’s dark side. Overwhelmed by the amount of gossip and rumors about him, Bestern’s other side gets heavily affected. His hate for the NTUPA and the people surrounding him intensifies, which led him to he killing Susan on 17/4/2017 while he was at the ADM Library bookshelves at 8:30PM.

Bestern’s twisted, dark self meticulously prepared for Susan’s murder– out of pure hatred, he crafted clues to play with the police’s minds and tests their ability to snuff out culprits. Basing his facts that the police is useless and will be unable to catch him just like how they were unable to catch the culprit who killed his father, he happily switches his personality to the good side of Bestern. (Bestern is unable to remember the thoughts and actions of what happened to both sides of him).

6 NTUPA Detective sector students were shortlisted to be detectives of this curious mystery led by Chief Police Investigator Mr. Red Drum and Assistant Police Investigator Bestern (whose good self was tasked with helping Red Drum to lead the case).

At the end of the investigation and when the detectives have gathered sufficient evidence to accuse Bestern of his crime, Bestern switches to his dark side. He pulls out the knife he used to stab Susan 6 times and ultimately killing him, he charges at the detectives, ready to swing his knife at anyone he sees.

Bang.

Mr. Red Drum shoots Bestern with his gun. As Bestern falls to the ground, Mr. Red Drum tells him the truth — he was as useless as his father.

The culprit who killed Bestern’s father 10 years ago is Red Drum.

(NOTE: if you spell Red Drum’s name backwards, it becomes MURD-DER ; Calista’s creation!!)

 

Foundation 4D Project: Sound Installations

Sounds of the Toilet

Artists: Calista Lee, Claudia Tan, Lydia Lui, Sammi Neo, Vanessa Ang

Artists’ Statement
Toilets are a shared space amongst people from all walks of life; and within these space are more often than not, unspoken rules for people to follow. Flush the toilet after using, use only what you must. ‘Toilets: Our Shared Space’ explores the nature of getting people together, and with a set of simple but open instructions, to create a piece of music together; and enjoy the symphony of the space as itself.

Research and Preliminary Ideas
Refer to Calista’s post here and my previous post here.

Final Outcome

 

Preliminary Ideas – 4D Sound Project

INSPIRATIONS

INNER OUT by Nicola Giannini

Inner Out is a surround concert for ice and Live Electronics. The piece focuses on the micro-sounds created by melting ice. The idea is to amplify  sounds that normally are not audible. Inner Out is inspired by macro photography that can provide, for example, the ability to closely observe the veins of a leaf.”

— Nicola Giannini

 

SOUND X SOUND by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

“By multiplying instruments again and again he makes the sound transcend itself and become a pure new sound. The sound of the individual instrument dissolves and reappears as untouched unheard sound.

His interest in multiplying sound, has lead to the SOUND X SOUND series, which is a series of works where each piece is an exploration of one single instrument that is multiplied.”

–Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

 

CLINAMEN by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

“The title of clinamen, 2013, by French artist and composer Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, refers to the curve and swerve of celestial configurations; to the arc of the sun and the unpredictable motion of atoms moving through and colliding in space. This aquatic, acoustic installation set within the forecourt of the National Gallery of Victoria fills the space with colour and sound and creates an uncertain and changing form of chamber music, whose aleatory form is echoed aurally and pictorially.”

–National Gallery of Victoria

 

Our group is very inspired by these sound art installations. INNER OUT is a piece which involves amplifying the normally inaudible sound of melting ice, and it is centered on the object in its natural state. On the other hand, SOUND X SOUND involves the use of conducting/orchestrating a number of the same instrument to create a unified sound. Clinamen uses the natural collision of porcelain on water to create a variety of tempos and rhythms.

In the same way, we want to center our project around the natural sounds of the object(s) or space that we choose to focus on, and conduct an ensemble using these sounds.


IDEA PROPOSALS

 

  1. The toilets
  2. The beeping sounds of an open ADM door
  3. The clanking sounds of coins in people’s pockets

PRIMARY IDEA – Toilets: Our Shared Space
General Concept:

Toilets are a shared space amongst people from all walks of life; and within these space are more often than not, unspoken rules for people to follow. Flush the toilet after using, use only what you must. ‘Toilets: Our Shared Space’ explores the nature of getting people together, and with a set of simple but open instructions, to create a piece of music together; and enjoy the symphony of the space as itself.

Time taken: 5 to 20 mins (Varying and dependant on response)

Execution:
– People will be led individually into the toilet with little to no idea of how the project is to be or about to witness the pure sense of interaction with people and the toilet as an environment, done by via a guide. The guide will not elaborate much on what to do and allow the participant some time to explore and find out.

– Strips of paper with instructions will be pasted at certain areas and corners of the toilet as ‘designated’ instruments. The instructions will be simple as “Knock against the door, 4 times in quick succession. Try to create a matching tempo/ harmony with the people around you.”

[The notion of not specifically being there to conduct the piece, and letting the people inside decide how fast is ‘fast’ in the instructions to them; and to see if people brought together are as cooperative and are able to work the piece out together.]

– The last person (without knowing) will be designated as the conductor, and given the chance to conduct the sounds as they are. They will also be given the choice to switch should another be willing to volunteer and take their place; to observe human interaction and see if a work is possible to work out on the fly. The recorders inside will persist and record as each sound continues to layer on one upon another as the symphony/ cacophony come to life.

Some sound possibilities:
– Basin (Faucet being turned on)
– Toilet bowl flushing
– Door banging
– Voices
– Hand dryer
– Foot stomping

1) Truth or lie?
Concept: A single person is led into the cubicle, where they are to sit there with doors closed for a while, whilst the group would have different scenarios. A post-it note will be pasted onto the back of the cubicle door, instructing people to tug on the roll of toilet paper once only when they hear voices outside. Listening, and eavesdropping as an innate curiosity in us that demands to be satisfied.

As the person tugs upon the toilet paper, facts would either juxtapose or match the words to the conversation heard outside. For instance, person X would be complaining to person Y outside about person Z; where the toilet paper would reveal that person X are spewing lies. It would test the human ability to discern truth and lies from just the voice; and that if we are able to tell so without looking at a person physically for cues.

2) Object of Scrutiny
Concept: People inherently, no matter how little or how badly, judge a person; and somehow it happens quite often when people are found to be alone and avoiding eye contact in the toilet. The said person would be led to the toilet and wait in the cubicles as group members walk in naturally. Then they either begin to praise or complain about the person inside the cubicle loudly; where the person inside can decide then when he or she would like to leave the cubicle.

Upon leaving, however, all praises or complains would cease completely. Everyone would go about their own business (wash hands, go into the cubicle or even tie shoelaces), as though the session never happened.

3) What will you do?
Concept: Inside the cubicle that the person is led to and told to await for the scene to start, they would hear urgent muttering of missing objects of great value or information that is hidden inside the very cubicle they are in. The scene outside would continue for a while as the person inside the cubicle would decide if he or she would take any course of action or await for the people involved in the scene to go away.

4) Rules of the Trade
Upon entering the toilet; and upon stepping on certain tiles from the selected individual, the group would scream or exclaim in different languages. The individual would not be able to know which tiles not to step save from a series of trial and error, where they will be navigated to the cubicle. Yet upon reopening the door, the set of ‘rules’ and tiles that cannot be stepped on changes as the languages themselves change.

It symbolises the idea of how regardless of a shared, common space; there are different rules to different cultures and settings.


ROLES

Group role: find out the possible sounds that can be made in the toilet, set beats and timing for different parts (based on proposal 1)

Calista: Record “symphony” on presentation day + OSS research and update items

Claudia: Guide people to designated areas and record “symphony” on presentation day

Sammi: Typeset instructions and print for presentation day

Lydia: Introduction of project on presentation day + OSS research and update items

Vanessa: Specific instructions for music scores