September 2017 – Raymond

Future World @ ArtScience Museum

The field trip to Future World at ArtScience Museum on 18 September is another inspiring learning journey for me.

I have always believed the concept of User Experience could never be applied to an art installation since Art is a self-expression of an individual (there is no “User” per se). This traditional way of thinking, however, is no longer valid when Technology opens up limitless possibilities of interaction – bridging the artist himself with people. Immersive Art proves to be a delightful experience for everyone, regardless of their background.

I think this concept of immersive experience could be used as a guide to design our iLight Festival art installation. The interaction should not simply be doing an input action which outputs another result. It should utilise multiple human senses to truly immerse any audience and let them fully enjoy the exhibition.

iLight 2017

An art installation from iLight Festival 2017 that particularly interests me is the Moonflower by Yun.

Earth is a beautiful wonder and the Moonflower garden perfectly illustrate this feel. I believe every single one of us has to realise that beauty and stop destroying mother nature.

To add more on the sustainability aspect, none of these “flowers” would go to waste since they would be sold to people. The money will then be donated for further sustainability efforts.

p.s. Sorry for the late post.

Photo by The Draft via thedraft.sg

Hidden in Plain Sight – Chapter 4

You Are What You Carry

In chapter 4 of Hidden in Plain Sight, Jan Chipchase wrote interesting insights about our carrying behaviour. The objects we often carry are based on multiple aspects like the range of distribution, the center of gravity and point of reflection. However, it ultimately boils down to survivability. Most of us happen to at least carry three critical objects with us: Keys, money and phone.

We want to feel safe and keep everything primary to our survival close within our reach.

The Technology Advancement

With the significant advancement in technology in the past few decades, our carrying behaviour has changed significantly. Our smartphones now have multiple capabilities on top of simply making calls or sending messages. With the rise of internet and cloud storage, we don’t even need to store it in our smartphone. Everything is readily available online, crossing the physical, time and consciousness boundaries. The “Mesh” sharing model could even potentially allow us to not own anything and use shared tools instead.

It comes down to this point of time where we carry less, remember less and own less – but is this how it is supposed to be? Entrusting everything to a third party introduces risk, and human tends to avoid risk in order to survive. I agree with Chipchase and believe that we need to understand this concept of survival to jump into new opportunities and design tools that really matters.

p.s. Sorry for the late post

Photo credit: DeaPeaJay via Visualhunt /  CC BY-SA