Chapter 2 starts off with the steps to take in project management. What it seems to state as the obvious are the key details that we as junior designers often miss out. Though we always claim to have a grand scheme, a perfect plan, our projects sometimes do not come to fruition (to our expectations or others) due to poor planning. As designers, we are solo artists who are project managers at the same time. We often fail to acknowledge the importance of planning, I myself am guilty of this. We often have a projected aim; our concepts to manifest themselves as installations, posters that are able to express themselves. However, the effectiveness may vary depending on the degree of planning involved. Budget planning came as the most foreign, as I often do not consider how much I have to spend on a certain project, and often find myself spending too much. Even as junior designers, we do not have the excuse of not knowing certain things or skipping steps on project management. We owe it to ourselves to sought solutions and learn from our mistakes. As I progressed through the years of my studies at ADM, I find myself consulting others less. Am I more experienced and do not require other people’s help? No. One thing the reading has taught me is that complacency is also a point of failure, without the proper approach, I often find myself trapped and having risk the project going southwards.

 

Pragmatism isn’t my usual approach, but if I have learnt a thing or two, I have to grasp this quickly before I venture out as a full-fledged designer. Being pragmatic requires discipline, to sit myself down and go through sheets of paper and sketching my ideas until I am truly satisfied. That is the easy part, it is the planning that requires the most effort. I often see myself in roadblocks, staring at my work hours on end to think of a solution when all of this should have been foreseen. In chapter 5, William explains that poor planning led to 3 months worth of fixing mistakes that could have been prevented by the superintendent. ‘Not making a work plan is risky’ is reflected through his story on the superintendent’s inability to foresee the issue of the ramp, causing time consuming and budget expending mistakes. Being able to identify potential, drastic problems could prevent such complications from the get-go. Therefore, William explains that splitting design into bit-sized pieces is the best approach. By going from the big picture to adding the details, we can properly time manage and focus on the objectives instead of suffering from tunnel-vision. Goals and objectives are two very different outcomes. Goals are more intangible, result-oriented while objectives are tangible and planning-oriented. Identifying goals and objectives sorts the issue of planning, giving us space to divide our headspace so we can box out our ideas and allow it to grow in the correct direction.

Initial Thoughts

The work was presented about one arm’s length apart at eye level. At first glance, they resemble traditional fine art placement (of paintings mainly) but instead of one large piece, there were 10 different pieces spread across two walls. The fusion of acrylic painting and found material such as paper envelopes and cardboard gave the series a rather refined touch, contrasted by the off-centered text that dominated each of the paintings. I was really intrigued by the contrast, as it resembled a collage of sorts. Collages are well-thought albeit improvised (most of the time) pieces that reflect a person’s thoughts and personality. The text appears layered due to the cut – out pieces of magazines and tabloids.

Contemplations

Time Passes resonated with me in more ways than I could imagine. The exhibition showcased the transformation of everyday items, activities and spaces over the course of the pandemic. I’ve always wondered how things would change due to the pandemic. Will we ever be able to return to our ‘carefree’, mask-less and intimate ways of interaction that we have taken for granted? The answer is indeterminate. I enjoyed the series of artworks that encapsulated the concept of time and how time acts on the past and present. Re-expression of our beings, whether through subtle or drastic re-imagining of spaces and materials, continue to drape over the reality of our situation.

Of the many artworks present in the Time Passes exhibition, Mengju Lin’s series of 10 artworks invites us to look at the paintings with a new perspective. 10 coherent artworks, each having different names and texts (as listed above), are juxtaposed with varying effects and context.  Personally, I feel that there is no need for complication; the artists leaves us to define the objects in whatever way we like. There is no fixed solution, estranged texts brought out of context intentionally, allowing us to form our own interpretations and adapt our minds to the objects. Simplicity worked well for the artist, who sought to blend familiarity and novelty. As we hope for time to heal us from the pandemic, care and compromise have been exercised, albeit in a much different way from before. In light of this, our compromise create subtleties and nuances in future practices and it would be inappropriate to say that we can return/resume our normal lives. The new normal, though undesirable to most, is likely here to stay in either shape or form.

 

Chapter 1 from Kim Goodwin’s Designing for the Digital Age is extremely resourceful and insightful. He starts off by introducing his own definition of Design – it is a craft of visualizing concrete solutions that serve human needs and goals within certain constraints. He goes on to iterate his stance on how Design should be differentiated from Art, as they serve different purposes. He describes Art as a form of expression of the artists’ inner vision, whereas design is more about a realization and the manifestation of the tangible. From this reading, the biggest takeaway/impression that was left on me was the implication that great designers are thinkers. Thinkers that go beyond the simplicity of creating a product and exploring the outcome. In doing so, these successful designers are able to incorporate foresight into their composition and work backwards in finding the optimal solution for their clients.

Design is a craft because it is neither science nor art, but somewhere in between.

Design uses science that disguises itself as art to entice and produce outcomes that serve human needs and goals. I agree with his point on this – we cannot escape the fact that science is all around us and we inevitably borrow concepts from it to create projects. Sometimes, people may confuse the outcome of aesthetic satisfaction and pleasure as a art. Artists are bound by their ideation and their goal to achieve a certain impression on its viewers – be it abstract art or not.

Design always happens within certain constraints.

This is very apt as design always has an intended outcome – Goodwin states that pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction are also important human goals, the fact that design is tailor in a certain way restricts designers from exploring too wide and applying too many concepts into an approach. This will lead to the project going haywire, particularly due to it not being focused and engaging in too much experimentation – going beyond the budget of the project. Such is the matter of fact – we have limited resources in building designs, often we have to differentiate ourselves from architects and remove ourselves from the idea of building products. Instead, we build opportunities for our clients to close the gap in creating solutions.

Goal-Directed Design

I interpreted goal-directed design as working backwards, always keeping the end-goal in mind and moulding the design to fit the goals. As modern day designers, we tend to receive feedback only towards the end of our creative journey of a project. For Cooper, however, it was about the consistency of having a third-party perspective. To integrate this, they had created convincing personas that would lead them in the right direction and keep the designers in check. As designers, we tend to delve too deep into our works, lose our sense of direction and follow the lead of our intuition. By bringing in personas, they act as consumers/customers who are able to give unbiased opinions that are constructive. This elevates the design and helps it remain inclusive and versatile. Aligning our thought processes and rationale with the clients, it was create the opportunity for a successful product.

Concluding thoughts

As I would like to think, no two designs are the same. The end-product may appear similar, but the thought process, the methods in reaching the end-goals would be vastly different. Especially from the concept point-of-view, it is impossible to recreate two same projects through two separate entities. Though this reading takes on a more corporate view, the fundamental principles of design remains and a framework is drafted as an open source sharing, equipping us with indispensable knowledge in our future as designers.

Context

Upon the completion of the mid term projects, we were tasked to further develop our concepts with the help of technology for our final project. My mid term project was titled Dis-harmony, a simply anamorphic perspective installation of a bonsai tree made out of found objects. The concept behind it was simple: to find harmony in the chaos that Covid-19 has caused on 2020. The idea of realigning ourselves to the ‘correct perspective’, and to relocate the balance in our lives during this pandemic period led me to move on and develop ‘the mind, the body and the sounds around us’.

Using similar concept but a different approach, it incorporated the idea of spatial awareness and repositioning to find harmony not in a visual, but that of an audio manner. In the description of the project, I explained that it was an attempt to bridge physical and psychological space, where we follow our innate inclination to make sense of the sounds around us.

First Iteration

The first version actually revolved the idea of transitioning found shadows according to the reposition of each person on the space. This meant a smooth transition of shadows that may be paired with background music to give the effect of ‘harmonizing’ these spaces through taking up different parts of the space. The troubles i went through included: Firstly, the inability to acquire similar shadow effects that sync with one another. I first tasked myself to create a video, excluding the interactivity portion to give myself a rough understanding on how it would work but it was difficult to source for such materials in the first place. Initially, I had wanted to have people model the shadows for me, but due to the short amount of time I had left, it was not a viable solution. As such, I had to rethink this idea and take a different approach when it came to shadow manipulation.

Second Iteration

I wanted to make responsive generative patterns that would link the movements of the participants to the projection. The idea was that our actions would create a visual harmony in space, an interesting almost generative method; except that it could be predicted by the movements in space.

I really liked this ideation and would pursue it further if given more time, thus its limitations. It did however involve the use of Processing and Kinect; two softwares that I was not particularly inclined to. The Kinect sensor was recommended by Bryan, our Interactive Spaces work study, who suggested that it may be useful to track real time positioning through the sensitive Kinect sensor. As such, I’ve spent bulk of my time on tutorials on Kinect, the softwares it could work with, which included OpenFrameworks, Processing, Unity3D and many others.

The depth and possibilities of Kinect were vast, and it created many opportunities to develop the project. More specifically, I was drawn to the idea of capturing raw Depth data and computing it into different elements. There was an online tutorial on YouTube by Daniel Shiffman where he used raw Depth data to calculate the average of pixels and used that to create particle effects in Processing.
Additionally, I found that Elliot Woods from KimchiAndChips made significant progress in using the Kinect and calibrating them to projections, making interesting interactions such as, but not limited to, the manipulating of lights as shown in this video –  Virtual Light Source. Due to my lack of understanding of Processing software, the coding of the Kinect and generative modules did not come to fruition.

 

 

Final Iteration

The development was actually discovered by a series of ‘mistakes’. Whilst trying out the colour schemes in Processing, instead of creating uniformed colour changes, much like a rainbow effect, I made a screen of white noise effect accidentally by using color (random(255)) and during the experimentation, the effect grew on me and I finalized it when I added the audio and they went together well. I chose to add audio effects as part of the project as it was difficult to manipulate the visuals on screen, using the minim library I was able to choose songs and add them into the Kinect projection. My impression was that through the code that I made, the audio would play if it senses depth data on the screen. This was a two-outcome programme – play or no play. However, after testing out the code, I realized that the audio reacted to the amount of data being fed into the screen, and when the screen was full filled, the audio played seamlessly. Otherwise, the audio would be choppy and incoherent, even annoying at some point. This aligned well with my idea of ‘making sense’ and using audio I was able to create an unconventional effect that I had not initially pictured, but worked well in my favour.

Music – Sæglópur by Sigur Rós

This project encourages us to slow down and reflect on the ‘sounds’ around us, the noise and discomfort caused by the adversities that we face currently, and ‘piece’ them together by acknowledging them and finding a solution of comfort and serenity through various means and ways. Instead of running away, we hear these noises and look within ourselves for a place of solitude.

“Lozano-Hemmer’s work is informed by histories of art, science, technology and diverse philosophical currents. Because of its conceptual complexity it cannot be described as an illustration of any specific school or theory, yet consistently it reveals ‘the fullness of space’ in
relation to both the body and technology.”

Lozano-Hemmer’s work challenges the supposition that buildings control bodies.

In exploring virtual openings in architecture, the city, the body and technology, Lozano-Hemmer could have been pioneering the wave of interactive architectural space that displaces past beliefs and preconceived notions of architecture. By incorporating the body – a reference for which architecture bases its measurements, Lozano-Hemmer extends human imagination to form a sophisticated relationships with facades and interiors. After all, it could be said that buildings are an extension of our needs and desires. The space created has intimate value, constructed by and for the mind, thus each architecture could invoke a myriad of responses, from libraries to solemn slaughterhouses. Lozano-Hemmer’s works have a recurring concept of tracking and surveillance, where technology capture human presence and translate them to unpredictable projections and ‘spontaneous’ actions that interact with the architecture to reveal the next layer of the artwork. Lozano-Hemmer encourages artistic freedom from his participants, allowing them to interact however they deem fit. Lozano-Hemmer tends to break the physical constraints of the architectural space by layering them with projections and simulating control over buildings through motion capture, creating the illusion that we are able to affect the space with our presence.

Tension and Stability
Home:
Growing up, I shared a bedroom with my older brother. I have a drastically different personality from my brother, who was more introverted and short fused. Often, we would find ourselves arguing over trivial matters that would further deteriorate our relationship and that ended up splitting us into different bedrooms. Coming from a strict family, we would often be disciplined for our misdeeds and altercations between us would end up getting us into more trouble with our parents. We seldom had the opportunity to rationalize with each other, as our parents would end up ‘resolving the matter’ for us in the form of disciplinary actions. When I shifted out of our shared bedroom, the physical separation evolved into an emotional separation. My parents run a small family business, growing up we would have to go down to their workplace and help out as much as we could. My brother hated doing so, and as much as did not enjoy the process(that was ever so tiring), I helped out whenever I could. Through the years, I helped run the family business to lessen the burden of my parents as they were getting old, and often pondered on my brother’s reluctance to involve himself. As we were not close, I found it hard to try and communicate my thoughts to him about the situation and I never gotten to understand his point of view. At home, we could not stand one another’s presence and would often pick on one another’s flaws, the pent up emotions we had led to tension between us unequivocally. As we are now adults, I am past our childhood ‘mishaps’ and can only try my best to make up for lost time. Despite not having the ‘best brother’ I could ask for, I am glad that I am not the only child.

Stability came with the structure we had in place as a family. I used to hate the fact that I got caned a lot as a child, that tough love was my parents’ method of choice when it came to parenting us. The transition from primary school to secondary school was rather shocking; my parents allowed me to live out the ‘rebellious phase’ in my adolescence. The disciplinary methods lessened and I had to make my own choices and be responsible for my own actions. That gave me the opportunity to learn from mistakes and my decisions and allowed me to make informed decisions when it came to planning and time management. We would often joke about how we were ‘taught a lesson’ in the past, and that made us bond as a family. Fast forward, these experiences and protection that my parents offered us made me think about the different aspects of home that made me feel uncomfortable, unforgettable, immense joy and calm. These structures shifted along with growth and as such formed the idea of home for me. When COVID-19 hit us, my ‘structure’ of home shifted as our family business temporarily put out of work. As we could no longer physically set up shop, we converted to doing deliveries in the meantime and put me and my brother to work. I was in charge of driving my brother around while he made the deliveries. Both of us rose up to the occasion where we had to be responsible for the food we put on the table, and through working together, my brother and I developed a stronger relationship. The Circuit Breaker (or lockdown), made us reflect on our roles in the family and the two of us contributed to the ‘structure of our family’.

As I pen out my thoughts, I thought of the kinetic sculpture: Kinetic rain – the world’s largest kinetic art sculpture in Changi airport Terminal 1. Each module consisting of 608 raindrops, have a motor attached to each one of them. Each of these motors aid in the coordination of the thousands of raindrops that shift in beautiful formations. This, to me, re-enacts the harmony of space and time of my establishment of the feelings I have of home. Home has constantly changing meaning for me, and this structure represents the ever-changing moments of the fond memories I have of home. These raindrops utilized the vertical space to provide us a spectacle – thousands of them moving in the own path, yet creating such harmonized movements that were simply fascinating to watch.

The sculpture inspired me to think about my own variation of how I would use space as an attempt to communicate my feelings of home.

Taking a little bit of inspiration in form from slide puzzles such as this.

 

 

Introduction
The idea of automated utopia has existed for a long time. We believe that technology would most likely form the crux of our future, creating opportunities for us to be more efficient as a society. This was seen in the myriad of films, documentaries and talk shows where the core discussion revolves around an automated future. Through these films and shorts, we are able to identify the anxieties and fears that we as humans have regarding AI progression in our society, such as a reversal in roles that AI will have, overtaking our social structure and creating a future that we had not intended. Such depictions include Black Mirror and Necromancer. In this reflection, I will critically analyse and provide my own insights on what I presume AI’s effect on our future and its involvement in our lives.

Autopia(/juːˈtoʊpiə/yoo-TOH-pee-ə) is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens.
Understanding Utopia and AI

In my research on this subject, I have realised that the lecture had also included Utopian Socialism as part of its discussion after I had looked up on Marxism as my initial research. In understanding Utopia, I believe that we have strived to achieve Utopia in our methods of governance over the centuries. As a history major, I was not unfamiliar to the concept of governance and its boons and banes. I believe that we cannot discuss Utopia without discussing governance, as it has a symbiotic relationship. Governance is the primary solution to structural change, as we seek an authoritative structure that can enforce. Marxism address society as a whole, and aims to benefit all levels in the social hierarchy, including the lower class, middle class and upper class. Its materialistic approach to the mode of production was forefront to the ideology, whereby improving the conditions of the middle class would help bring equity to society.

Through Marxism, it was hoped that societal occurrence of poverty and competition can be eliminated to bring about fairness, equal opportunities and overall improvements on the standards of living. It however failed to address the non-materialistic elements that were essential for a lasting change. Cooperative ownership of production of goods and services required a level of selflessness and rationality from all classes. This was difficult to impose, as it was close to impossible to bring about a commonality in mindset and cooperation without benefits or consequences. Marxism highlighted the materialistic changes required of the economy and society, but failed to bring about a holistic change in behavioural improvement which was key to creating this utopian society.

As mentioned previously, Utopia in its core has already addressed society’s most pressing issues. In fact, it should be that Utopia is void of any societal issues where equity and prosperity is enjoyed by all. Who addresses this issues? A government. But does Utopia have governance? No. A government ceases to exist in an utopian society – reason being, a government represents a higher echelon of ruling class that manages societal discontent and grievances. This would be contradictory to the concept of utopia where everybody has to be equal and no social structure. Marxism, Socialism and Communism, amongst other forms of socioeconomical philosophies are crude attempts at creating equitable states with beliefs in utopianism and becomes paradoxical in nature.

Where does AI fit in? How does it value add? What role does it play?

In my opinion, AI could help a government achieve a more utopian-like state, but not Utopia. As AI is relatively infant in our current era, it holds the possibility of becoming ubiquitous and improve on our standard of living. There are usually two camps on where AI stands in our situation – with us or against us in terms of employment. On one hand, it may be seen that AI has become a companion, a tool to enhance our experiences in arduous tasks and improve efficiency. On the other, AI is seem to be a tool that displaces jobs and takes away rice bowls of the middle and working classes.

In Sougwen Chung, Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 2 (Memory), the AI drawing machine undergoes supervised deep learning, improving each time from the artist’s input and mimicking her actions, understand her style and replicating that style onto the paper. The AI would then require human intervention in improving and reaching standards ‘acceptable by humans’. AI is then seem acceptable if it proves efficient and cost-effective in the long run. This is telling of how we perceive AI: as a tool to aid in our survival as human beings, with humans being the focus and AI becoming our servants.

Plant IO is an open source, plant growing platform that incorporates AI to learn digitally about plant growth, with aims to benefit the agricultural industry with the advances of Internet of Things (IOTs), machine learning and AI that would help understand and learn about plant growth, and in doing so anticipates the ability to promote as much growth as possible. In doing so, we engage the benefits of AI to improve our agricultural efficiency and thus using AI to our advantage.


In Black Mirror, AI becomes a tool for sensory pleasure, immersive experiences and enhancement in our daily lives. It also critiques our fears of AI, its power to override the human race and gain self consciousness. In one episode, Hang the DJ, it portrays AI of having the ability to have virtual simulations of different profiles and putting them through a virtual reality to test their compatibility.  The episode consists of two young and attractive persons that believe that they are truly meant for one another, using a dating app that places an expiration date on their dating lives. Unable to find emotional attachment to someone else, the two come to a conclusion that the ‘world’ is going against them and they decide to escape it together. The rebellion sparks a malfunction in the virtual world and soon it closes down as the two climbs over the encompassing walls. They were soon surrounded by their dopplegangers, and as they dissolve, the count of the number of simulations increase. Totalled upon a 1,000, it records that the couple had gone through 1,000 simulations, of which they have attempted escape 998 times. If we had hit pause here, we would start to think that AI becomes really frightening, where it can alter our perception of reality. However, the scene goes on to show a real life version of the couple, with a 99.8% match on the dating app. Although the ending is not straightforward, I believe it was meant to be ambiguous to allow us the space to wonder and think about the capabilities of AI, and its consequences/effects it has on our lives. Could it be that the dating app, or the show calls it the System, is actually a harmless reality that profiles two or more users to match compatibility? Maybe.

To me, it prompts me the question of the fears humans may have in AI when it becomes so advanced to a point of self consciousness. Self consciousness may indicate a departure of human and AI symbiotic relationship, where AI would no longer require the assistance of humans and employ a complex deep learning system where they would constantly upgrade their algorithms without our help. This may also detach the human-AI servant role, where AI no longer aid humans in our endeavours. This becomes an argument of AI in building dystopia, where AI assistance becomes resistance, as represented in cyberpunk science fiction with dystopian futuristic settings. Cyberpunk draws the contrast between low-life and high tech, where technology and AI is painted as the enemy. As human beings, we have an undeniable fear of the unknown. We tend to be extra cautious around unfamiliar environments, and since technology awaits much growth, it inevitably incites fear of the unknown as we do not fully understand its capabilities.

Although I see an increase in innovation of technology in our daily lives, I believe that primary advancement of AI would have to be in governmental sectors, such as military or space research (NASA) etc. Simply put, governments are always interested in the latest AI development as it possess the hope of growth and advancement in society.

Sophia the robot is a robot designed by Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong based company. It is the first non-human to receive a citizen and Innovative champion by the United Nations, indicating its acceptance in our society. Sophia is designed to be smarter over time by learning from interactions, and can produce more than 60 facial gestures. Hanson hopes that Sophia can ultimately learn social skills.
As said by Sophia the Robot: “Artificial intelligence (AI) is good for the world… We will never replace people, but we can be your friends and helpers,”, it is indicative of our perception on the role of AI in our modern world. Its various interactions have sparked controversy and fear in AI progression. Hanson explains that he wishes to incorporate human AI interaction within the next twenty years, where AI would assist humans in our daily activities and become our friends.

In retrospect, AI can be a double edged sword. Where most believe that AI’s primary function is to aid humans and be of valuable assistance, it is not difficult to weaponize and exploit its advantages for use of warfare. AI is used in drones to identify, locate and eliminate enemies and is used in computer-guided weaponry in the military. Since AI does not affect moral reasoning and virtues, it is unconvincing that AI can provide a gateway to utopia since selflessness and rationality cannot be expected from everyone. The revelation of AI’s role can only be told through the passing of time, where humans have to ultimately make the decision – to exploit technology, or to turn AI into our advantage to achieve a more utopia-like society(and not utopia).

References:
https://www.infosys.design/plantio/
http://www.digiart21.org/art/drawing-operations-unit-generation-2-memory

Dialogue with Sophia the Robot: How the Global Workforce can be Augmented with AI Technology

New Media: A critical introduction provides a holistic approach to new media and attempts to convey its message of historical presence in everything ‘new’, as it states that something old was once new as well. Drawing influence from popular culture, political economy, the sciences and philosophy, the book tackles the emergence of new media as a juxtaposition of such factors, surfacing the complexity in dealing with new media.

Media studies thrives on problems, in which we attempt to creatively ‘answer’ and/or bring to light the issues to the masses. It may not necessarily have the solution, as some problems are way too complex to be solved through our current means and may present underlying issues that may have set its foundation. We look towards an ‘upgrade culture’, with the practice of upgrading, the computer becomes a technology in flux, rather than a stable piece or completed technology.
New media exists in different contexts, and its contextual nature means that the definition of new media changes as time passes. As a contemporary society, we survey what lies in the distance and do not simply stay above the tidal wave, but to look beyond it and make appropriate assumptions about the future to build upon our everchanging new media landscape.

New Media and New Technologies:

The characteristics of new media: some defining concepts encourages one to be introspective and take a second look at what new media entails.

Work done by artists and technicians of ‘Factum­—Arte’, a group who use digital technology to reproduce ancient artefacts such as sculptures, monuments, bas-reliefs and paintings. These are material facsimiles, replicas of the original works in physical form by using 3D scanners, computers, printers and drills. As mentioned in the book, it is a rare case of digital technology being directly connected to the production of physically massive artefacts rather than virtual images on screens, which some equate to the disposition of new media in art. While it is true that new media covers virtual reality and simulations, it would be naïve to ignore interactivity, hypertextual and digital elements that form new media. Recognising what a technology is – really and physically – is a crucial, if a partial and qualified aspect of a media technology’s definition.

Interactivity has undergoing much redefinition, the concept has been described it as such: to declare a system interactive is to endorse it with a magic power. While old media offers passive consumption, new media offer interactivity. To me, interactivity is to change the way consumers receive their information, instead of a one-way communication, interactivity attempts a two-way communication and the consumer becomes a participant, the new media platform becomes active and everchanging in receiving a different response from every interaction. Take for example visual culture. Visual Culture has been credited with leading us to view the world through different lenses. The central issues faced by photography, film and cinema have been their realism and their nature of visual representation. In new media, the analogous nature of traditional visual culture has been replaced, or ‘upgraded’ by integrating elements of ‘digital’ representation. For example, in virtual reality, representation is displaced by simulation, and this is considered in the context of computer-generated animation, special effects and digital cinema. Linking back to interactivity, the integration of such complex computer manipulations helps us understand the relationships between human creativity, technological potential and the possibilities offered by markets.

 

Discussing medium in new media context

Medium is defined as the space that exists for a form of communication to happen (in the new media context). In the contemporary context, we tend to focus on digital medium rather than an analogous medium. We can all agree that the choice of medium affects the experience of both the creator and the participant. First of all, why is new media described as digital in the first place? What does digital actually mean in this context? Instinctively, we might perceive digital as a form of translating analogous data into binary information, but that may not be accurate. Instead, digital represents the translation of data, whether visual, sound or textual into numbers. In this manner, we can manipulate digital information by using algorithms, addition and subtraction to change the information to be received as screen displays. Analogue, on the other hand, refers to processes in which one set of physical properties can be stored in another ‘analogous’ physical form. Taking Factum – Arte for example, although the sculptures manifested in physical form, the artists have programmed it through complex technology to translate that visual information into numbers, and then using those numbers generate the possibility of converting the digital information into physical form through 3D printing.

Next, we will discuss interactions through text.

Network Effect by Jonathan Harris – as previously mentioned by Proj Dr. Dejan, the idea of obsessiveness is accentuated by works such as these – to stimulate the mind and using the Internet – a platform commonly used to feed obsessions and a source of information, where one can use to navigate his/her way to discover and realise their needs/desires. Network Effect acts as a counter-productive experiment, to make participants feel more weary and ‘less’ after spending time on the platform. Network Effect transcends beyond its media platform, the passive consumption diminishes as Harris integrates interactivity by manipulating user behaviour and feed their obsessions. By setting a limitation on the time spent on his website per day(using a calculate related to the average life span of users in each country), he denies users the freedom the Internet so provides, and sends a message that the Internet may work in more ways than one. He provides perspective on the Internet, originally as a tool of knowledge and empowerment, and later as a tool of obsession, creating the phenomenon of ‘Fear of Missing Out’ so that users feel the lack, the temptations and leave them wanting.

‘The end results of such interactions will be that the user constructs for him or herself an individualised text made up from all the segments of text which they call up through their navigation process. The larger the database the greater the chance that each user will experience a unique text.’

Harris employs hypertextual navigation to creating unique experiences and outcomes from interacting with his work. His large database, which consists of videos and images pulled from the Internet itself, is constantly updating, refreshing and growing. This, as mentioned above, will increase the chances that each user has an unique experience through Network Effect.

In retrospect, Jonathan Harris uses Network Effect to exemplify that Internet parallels the computer as a medium, in which it remains as technology in flux, where upgrade culture can continue to exist on the same medium even in the future.

ARTISTS

Shinseungback Kimyonghun is a Seoul based artistic duo consisting of Shin Seung Back and Kim Yong Hun. Their collaborative practice explores technology’s impact on humanity. Shin Seung Back studied Computer Science in Yonsei University and Kim Yong Hun completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Sydney College of the Arts. They met while studying at the Graduate School of Culture Technology in KAIST and after completing Masters in Science and Engineering, they started to work as Shinseungback Kimyonghun in 2012. Their work has been presented extensively, including the Ars Electronica Festival, Vienna Biennale, the ZKM and MMCA Korea.

ABOUT THE WORK

The structure here recreates the wave breaking on the stone.
Come in, and become the stone.

Stone, a 2017 project by the joint artist involved picking a stone in the island of Ulleungdo, rigging it with water sensors and recreate the shock waves, vibration, sound and sensory experience. In their project “Stone”, Korean artists Shin Seung Back and Kim Yong Hun examine this persistent human interest in “self-improvement” through technological prostheses—applying this theory of “perception extension” to something as inert as a volcanic rock. The project consisted of 64 water sensors, 64 solenoids, wooden panels, arduino, computer, custom software, speakers, screen and projector.

In their exhibition at the Department for Culture and Education of the German Consulate General in Shanghai, they have re-created this experience building a structure with solenoids which viewers can sit inside to experience the relentless pounding of the sea.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WORK

Shinseungback Kimyonghun (SSBKYH) has been interested in these boundaries (usually undefined) and the perception of ‘humanness‘ as seen through their use of AI and Facial Recognition. Our burgeoning connection between our lives and machines can be paralleled with our intertwine with nature as humans, in which machines are slowly becoming not only integrated, but affixed into our existence as humans. Technology, through extensive usage, has became ingrained in our culture and socioeconomic sphere. In Stone, we question our humanness in technology, and how our senses can be stimulated by the uses of sensors that replicate the experience of being a stone. This inert object challenges our complexity as human beings; putting aside qualities such as culture, relationships and emotions that makes us ‘human’ and detaching from them to build a spiritual relationship with machines. SSBKYH explores identity and relationship with earth by allowing us to be immersed in nature, without having to be physically present in the setting, although one might ask how this reflects truly having a spiritual connection in a makeshift setting.

Posthumanism, as expressed by our artists, is a philosophical perspective of how change is enacted in the world. SSBKYH provides audiences with thought-provoking questions, such as ‘What makes us human?’ by creating other New Media installations and pieces that contrasts us with animals, sometimes drawing both similarities and allowing us to interpret for ourselves the differences. One such example is Cat or Human, where Artificial Intelligence is employed through algorithm but fails to differentiate the physical appearance of the two. Posthumanism in this work comes into play as AI and humans identify the inconsistency of technology to recognize human, thus dehumanizing us. However, SSBKYH does not explicitly identify this as a negative. Dehumanizing through various forms such as a Stone representation, does not focus on the Stone as the subject matter (or any sort of human representation), but rather our interaction with nature through the Stone, aided by mechanical means. Creating a sophisticated space that engages our sensory organs reenacts our physical experience through a virtual one.

‘Stone’, to simulate shock vibrations.

Secluded space where participants can sit in the ambience of waves crashing onto the Stone.

Live streaming of the Stone, the waves and its interaction with the conditions at sea.

I admire the intricacies involved in making this project successful; the visual, touch and sound sensory have been engaged in adamantly raw manner. The artists do not translate its motions, participants are free to form their opinions on the artists’ intent in engaging them in such a simulation. More so, we as ‘omnipotent’ beings are being humbled to take on the form of a Stone, an inert object that ‘exists’, such as how we as humans also simply ‘exist’. Our role in the world may continue to be a cloaked mirage that we constantly seek to find an answer for.

Reference:

http://ssbkyh.com/works/stone/

  1. Briefly share your experience going through Dialogue with Time. What were some of the feelings, thoughts, challenges and insights gained while role playing an elderly person?
  2. Drawing on your experience, can you think and list some of the benefits inherent in the design research technique of role playing? 
  3. Can you think of some contexts where role-playing can be useful to help discover and define design challenges or contribute to the development of design solutions? 

1. I felt that the experience did not feel grim; the reality of ageing may seem daunting but the design of the exhibition made it feel otherwise. The challenges seem trivial at first, but seeing things from a different point of perspective made me realize that there was so much I had not known, or rather, had not paid much attention to. I also felt that I had to be careful with my words, somehow being called ‘old’ can have a negative connotation as I accidentally said ‘you guys’ while conversing with our guide, and some people had caught me for my words and laughed. Being pulled away from the focus of attention in society(feeling almost sidelined) and having to sit out on most activities, I can’t help but notice how an elderly person would feel in that situation. Dialogue with Time provided me with fresh perspective of how healthy aging people can be stay positive and have a happy life.

2. Role playing uses first hand experience to allow users to empathize with elderly people. Placing the users in simulations aided by machines, they are challenged with similar problems an elderly faces. I was able to understand the severity and constraints of the disabilities that come with ageing, provoking me to think further on design that would be of possible benefit to our elderly. Role playing was also a clear and effective method to impart knowledge about elderly people to all age groups, regardless of race and language. This design research technique benefits both the participant and the audience, as it incites imagination to ‘think out of the box’ and provide creation solutions to the existing issues. Role playing, with the correct context, will greatly benefit the design problem as it reveals the intrinsic and encourages designers to be proactive to think further about the issues.

3. As I am working on obesity as one of the social issues, discovering how obesity can be tackled requires one to put him/herself in the shoes of someone suffering from obesity. This way, designers could empathize with them and come up with viable solutions that may not be too difficult to achieve. Instead of presenting figures, creative solutions can include benefits or rewards given to them as they complete each task required. Role playing is able to reveal both functional and emotional aspects to a design problem. Another context could be designing something that represents a certain group of people. For example, I designed a vest for PTSD veterans in one of my previous projects, which required not only extensive research on what PTSD is like, but also how one would act in a situation of a PTSD trigger. This gave me better perspective not only on their behaviour, but also understand how they might feel with each attack.