Month: September 2017

Reflection: FUTURE WORLD: Where Art Meets Science

Future World explored 4 different types of narratives namely Nature, Town, Park and Space. We kickstarted the visit in an immersive installation called, “Crows are chased and the chasing crows are destined to be chased as well, Transcending space”. Through the 3-dimensional audio and light projection, I felt totally absorbed into the scene and as a result I got motion-sickness. The next installation was “Black Waves”, a therapeutic experience I would say. I realised that standing and lying on the beanbags gave 2 different experiences. As I stood, I could clearly see the limitations/ borders of the installation, and this reminded me of the real physical world whereas lying down on the beanbags, brought me closer to the art, blurring the separation between myself and nature. Seeing the waves from a lower perspective was more impactful and whelming.

Moving on to the Town and Park it felt like the space was designed by a child. As Takasu mentioned, their approach in designing these spaces was inspired by how children interact and see the world around them. Curious and intrigued, I found myself exploring this narrative like a child. Sketch town and Sketch aquarium were memorable experiences because it really boils down to how children use their imagination to create and make things come to life. The familiarity of the slide and the hopscotch, with added interactivity, invited children as well as adults, to rediscover the thrills of those classical childhood activities.

We ended the tour at the Space exhibit, Crystal Universe, a massive installation (2 tonnes!) of LED lights, all synchronized to create different space phenomenon which can be chosen by the user himself/herself through a web browser on their mobile phone.

Future world had an overall immersive; well-crafted interactivity that was relatable, understandable and intelligible. I also want to emphasize that sound also played a very important role in the installations. It complemented the visuals/projections; completed the installation and connected the dots between the different experiences. Future World shed light on some essential design consideration for the iLight project, like size; sound but also our position and condition in the space. For instance, some exhibits in Future World were best experienced (visually and aurally), at specific positions and this is an important consideration to keep in mind when designing the iLight proposal.

Response to: Previous iLight Festival Projects

  1. Sustainability is the prolonging of available tangible and intangible resources, for the generations to come. For instance, tangible resources can be things like fauna and flora… and intangible resources can be things like culture and economy. If we talk about sustainability and iLight, it immediately makes sense to think of energy saving.

 

  1. Horizontal Interference by Katarzyna Malejka and Joachim Slugocki

This project caught my attention because it shows a certain level of sophistication in terms of light play. The artists used the reflective property of the material to indirectly show the effects of light. There’s an interesting symbiosis between the complex repetition of the colourful cords and the simple use/projection of light. In addition to that the ‘weightlessness’ attribute of the cords, makes the installation ‘dance’ because of the natural presence of the wind. I believe this installation is an effective design because of the honest interaction between nature and object; nature and men.

 

Featured Image Source: https://www.ilightmarinabay.sg/Discover/Installations/Horizontal%20Interference

Response to: Chapter 4 of Hidden in Plain Sight: “You Are What You Carry” by Jan Chipchase

“You are what you carry”, was a comprehensive and thorough chapter, where we recall the idea of the phone, the key and the wallet as essentialities when venturing into the world. Strangely but interestingly, we tend to bring more things than the just essentials because of our providence nature for security, convenience, peace of mind… Especially when visiting a foreign country, I would make sure that I am ‘fully’ geared, in terms of technology and connectivity, so that I can be efficiently autonomous. Chipchase also brings up the concept of ‘range of distribution’ and how it differs between each country. I was shocked how Singaporeans comfortably leave their valuables unattended for prolong time period in public spaces, as a result of tough security measures of the country which gives a perception of low risk. Such things would not be happening in a different country. The good thing about low perception of risk is that it removes this subconscious paranoia of losing something, which can be liberating I must say. The Great Unburdening of digitization and cloud storage definitely reaffirms the ‘range of distribution’ by the omnipresence of facilities that shatters space time continuum or ‘yo-yo string’. With Amazon recently acquiring Whole foods, the prediction of Chipchase is becoming a reality: Supplies of groceries would be shipped to us by Amazon directly.

I believe that it is only a matter of time before everything gets connected and unified, especially with the growing trend of the Internet of Things. Space time continuum will change and things we carry and interact with, will constantly adapt to it.

 

Featured Image Source: https://herschel.com/

Response to: Anthropology of Mobile Phones by Jan Chipchase.

There was an immense leap in technology from back then and now, in terms of connectivity, services, and products but it always summed up to what Jan Chipchase said in his Ted talk. People still carry with them their phone, wallet and key. However, those 3 items are slowly converging into one form, which is the phone. E-banking, apple pay and other services are redefining the way we pay for stuff. We can see this combination too happening between the mobile phone and the ‘keys’. Smart lock that only requires your mobile phone ID to unlock, is gradually making its way into the market. The dynamics are changing with the advance of technology and like Chipchase said, we adapt, delegate to it. Likewise, our centre of gravity is ultimately shifting towards the mobile phone which is increasingly versatile nowadays. With everything becoming digitalized and mobile, we expose ourselves to new threats like cybercrimes. I believe that street will always innovate in a way we cannot expect. Such things can be seen with the mobile phone itself, even though companies are trying hard to make the latter beyond repair, people still find ways to tear it down and correct this. I once bought a repair kit for my own phone and repaired it myself.