Category: Experimental Interaction – G1 (Monday)

Final Project (Dark Object): Family Portrait

April 26, 2019 / / 0 Comments

FAMILY PORTRAIT

by Jessie and I

Description:

While designers bank mostly on the capitalisation of mass production, critical thinking is rarely involved in the making of their designs. This disregards the very need for emotional and personal connection to the average consumer. Our dark object aims to provide an immersive, emotional experience for viewers while telling a narrative, in an attempt to portray the multifaceted feeling of loneliness and abandonment.

Our narrative, essentially, depicts a story of an elderly man, suffering the loss of his son, daughter-in-law and his three granddaughters through an unfortunate accident that involved the negligence of his son when he drank and drive. They were on their way to celebrating his birthday. Every year since then, he gets reminded of that feeling of loss and abandonment as he lives by himself and celebrates his remaining birthdays, mourning their loss.

The purpose of this object is not to torment but for one to reflect on the importance of valuing what we have, at this moment in time. In this life, we can be too caught up on the riches of life yet forget the most basic of it all, love and family.

Design Process Documentation 

Documentation Video

Body Storming

Developmental Drawings

Play Test

Video of Actual Installation

Click here for video!

The images Lei shared during her brief regarding ‘Accessories for Lonely Men by Noam Toran from 2001 really stood out to us so we were inspired to create our project based on that. Emotional connection with the user was of the essential focal point when creating the narrative, audio and visuals. We also focused on creating an ambience physically where we played around with the scent associations of an elderly man. We also added an old tartan shirt to add to the connection of the user, playing the role of the elderly man.

As mentioned earlier, the intent of our object is merely to spark and tug on heartstrings of users. It is to allow for an immersive experience for users to remind them of their loved ones. We get too caught up with the happenings in our lives that we forget to treasure the people we have left.  The very people who actually will be there for us regardless the circumstance.

Hence, this is to allow users to be able to connect with the art, though might not be from a first person’s perspective, they would still be able to follow through the narrative and feel affected enough by it to trigger an emotion.

Instructables:

What we needed:

PSEUDO CODE

With regards to the narrative, the sound was designed according to its association with the storyline.

Main character: ‘Ah Kong’

Rest of the characters: 3 Granddaughters, Son, Daughter-in-law

As the user approaches the frame, the ultrasonic sensor will trigger the WhiteLEDs to turn on.

Played through a bluetooth speaker, it starts off with the ambience sound of “Happy Birthday” being sung to ‘Ah Kong’ which also acts as Ah Kong’s reminiscent to his past birthday with his beloved family. This is meant to establish context and add atmospheric noise to the room.

A separate headphone plays the calling of Ah Kong by his granddaughters. It should be loud enough to attract users to pick up the headphones and create urgency for them to do so. This guides the users as to their next step.

As they pick up the headphone, the photocell will trigger the next audio to play. This audio is of the son, talking to his dad, ‘Ah Kong’, establishing that he it was ‘Ah Kong’s’ birthday but his son could not make it for dinner but is still planning to come over with his family to celebrate the remaining evening with his father. He skips the planned dinner to head out for an evening of beers with his friends before driving his family to ‘Ah Kong’ house.

The audio then switches to him driving, in the state of being drunk, and speeding in the car. The end of the audio triggers the servo motor to push the frame down, signifying the first death of the narrative, ‘Ah Kong’s’ son.

With this, the next audio is triggered where the audio of his granddaughters are played, calling out to him. This, like before, acts like an indicator to guide the user to pick up the frame.

Upon picking up, user should realise that one of the WhiteLEDs, the one of the father, that is, has been switched off where the WhiteLEDs on the rest remains. The next audio establishes the context that the rest of the family except ‘Ah Kong’, were in the car during the accident, while they were on the way to celebrate ‘Ah Kong’s birthday’. The end of the audio triggers the servo motor to push the frame down.

Once again, the indicator of the granddaughters calling out to ‘Ah Kong’ will be played to guide the user on the next step. As they pick up the frame, like before, the 3 other WhiteLEDs are switched off, indicating the death of the mother, and 2 of the older kids.

The user will notice the youngest child’s WhiteLED is still lit but will be blinking while her audio crying will be played and faded out. The audio will end with the switching off of her WhiteLED, indicating her death too.

After which, the RedLED’s of all 5 members of the family will be flashed at their hearts, signifying their death while ‘Ah Kong’s’ WhiteLED will still be turned on, conveying the idea that he is still alive.

HOW IT WORKS:

Step 1: Connection to Arduino

Step 2: Coding – Arduino – Servo Motor & Lights

Step 3: Coding – Processing – Sound

Step 4: Building

Step 5: Creating a physical ambience with scents and set-up

Please refer to:  https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/jtiong002/family-portrait/

Reflections:

This project has allowed me to really understand the ins and outs of an interactive project. As a whole Experimental Interaction served as a platform for me to understand the culture of making, open sharing and collaborative art pieces, which are done to provoke and trigger emotions, conversations and debate. What we have learnt over the past few weeks during research critique have equipped us with the basis to create a hopefully, effective installation for users to experience. We realised that we were both very much drawn to the aspect of family and abandonment and most particularly, elderlies and how they are often under-appreciated. We wanted to dive deeper into that. If I am being honest, the coding didn’t come naturally for me and I struggled through the process of coding. I would definitely be brushing up during the holidays as I feel like it could be a hindrance for me to achieve a greater understanding of the subject matter. I am truly interested in the art of interactivity, in particular, if it involves social matters.

As for sound engineering, I felt like I have really understood the craft of creating an ambience and emotion with audio. This project allowed me to evoke emotions for users without visuals and that’s the biggest takeaway for me because it taught me the importance of sound and the ability of how certain elements could work with others for users to make associations and paint a picture in their heads.

All in all, this project was definitely one that was extremely challenging given the huge amount of complicated coding involved, coupled with the multiple elements that went into it such as the building of the object. This was very much important so as to simulate the proper installation and create a reality for users.

 

FINAL PROJECT PLAY TEST

April 22, 2019 / / 0 Comments

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT & PLAY TEST

A group project by Jessie and I

During the body storming session, we managed to get quite a bit of feedback that were relatively helpful. In summary, we gathered that we lacked relatability in our object for it to be impactful to users. In addition to that, we had several technical difficulties. With that, we made improvements in our play test.

Here’s what went on!

VIDEOS

Our set-up:

What we were trying to do:

  1. Having the tester approach the object and have the ultrasonic sensor to trigger the white lights to be switched on and ambience sound to be played.
  2. The range of the of proximity of the tester will trigger next sound
  3.  The servo motor was to topple the frame down
  4. Each time the frame topples down, the tester is expected to pick it up and see that the white light of each member will be turned off one by one as the steps go on.
  5. Repeat 2, 3 and 4 until the red LED is turned on at the same time,  glowing against all the faces of the family members who died in the accident, leaving grandpa’s LED to remain white.

However, as expected, during our playtest, we ran into a couple of problems in terms of technicality and relatability.

PROBLEMS:

Technical :

— RGB Light not being able to turn a true white

— Processing coding

— Servo coding

— Soldering

Comments:

— The narrative was relatively clear in which the depiction of the story interpreted by the testers were accurate

— The testers were unsure of what they were supposed to do.

— The mechanism of interaction isn’t clear in that it needs something to draw the testers to interact with the object

We tried to ask questions to the class to understand what type of commands and associations are needed to allow for a more seamless interaction.

Suggestions: 

— Need something to ask the user to come closer & interact with the frame

  • have audio calling out to user
  • start with the frame down first and the audio calls out to user to help to push user to pick up the frame
  • as this happens, users will see the lights go out

— Establish context

  • have a journal together with the interaction
  • death of date circled
  • have physical ambience (belongings associated to that of an old person such as walking stick and metal tin) ‘
  • have ambience sound play first
  • establish sound of grandpa so users can understand that they are the grandpa then followed by the “Happy Birthday” audio

— Immersive Experience

  • have headphones
  • establish ambient sound, as the user puts headphones on, the interaction starts
  • have a deeper narrative
  • make the experience longer as it seemed rushed

Videos to check out!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Hn3kYPXcbG0nlgf7zvKZ66lRV-HtnE4N

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZLxrvNiQUHb1vnh1ZAlbg2gEfDsymcw3

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wZiYl5-59Pk-DnoP8B45d_EKTh0ctfMF

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U4mIyoTNsV25uh4WCyIKAAimwzSVf2c0

Therefore, with the considerations of the comments made and the help our lecturer provided us during consultation, we attempted to move on to our final project.

Check it out!

 

 

 

Final Project Development Drawings

April 21, 2019 / / 0 Comments

DEVELOPMENTAL DRAWINGS

A group project by Jessie and I

Establishing context, Jessie and I chose Option B – Dark Object where we designed and built an object that communicated the emotions of loss, loneliness and self-pity, as mentioned in the brief.

We both came up with a few ideas and realised that we shared one idea in which it had a common denominator, in that they involved the loss of a family member.

Therefore, collectively, we decided to merge this idea and develop it:

BRAINSTORMING IDEAS :

A1: Leaving dirty dishes on the table after a meal that will result in replicating the nagging from mum that has passed on.

A2: Forgetting your towel in the shower and needing your dad to pass it to you. Presented through a disobedient object that'll move in the opposite direction to you as you reach for the towel hanged on it to simulate how dad used to tease you.

A3: Having the mat to trigger a prayer/chant before eating to simulate parents who are always reminding you to say your prayers/grace.

A4: Altar/prayer area activated as you walk pass to keep as a reminder and simulate the presence of a parent/elderly who used to frequent the altar.

A5: Door mat triggering the sound from a child that passed on when someone walks and steps on the doormat in the child's room.

A6: Having an object to simulate a parent waking up the child every morning where the alarm will trigger the motor to roll the blanket out of the bed.

 

A7: Reminder alarm is triggered once the laudnry basket is filled to recreate the nagging from mum when you don't empty the laundry baskets into the washer.

A7

A8: A snack cabinet that triggers the recreating of the nagging of a parent when you reach for a snack.

FINAL CHOSEN IDEA

A9: Family photo frame where when coupled with an associated audio, will trigger it to be knocked down each time a family member passes.

The feedback from this idea was the best from both our classmates and lecturer.

We felt that this idea had the most potential as well.  Jessie and I also felt that we could connect most with this idea.

The next step was to figure out how people would interact with our object and what elements and tools to consider.

Link to our body storming session:  Click here 

 

 

Bodystorming Set-up

Final Project Development Body Storming

March 31, 2019 / / 0 Comments

BODY STORMING SESSION

A group project by Jessie and I

Audio we played to simulate a narrative:

Feedback:

What did you learn from the process?

During the body storming session, we realised:

  1.  Timing and directions are of the essence when it comes to interaction. 

We realised that the interactive experience we need to provide the audience with has to be in correct timing proportions in relation to their reactions. This would provide a more immersive and extensive experience that would provide a better visual and audio association. Basically, it would make more sense if the audio ties in timely with their actions during the experience.

2. It’s all in the details! 

What we found was that the smallest details such as placement of lights that are introduced to our visuals and associative sounds that are universally recognised makes a huge difference in the user experience. It would allow the user to either connect or disconnect with the piece.

3. Connection with users

The user and an observer did mention that our piece did not make them feel things the way we intended to. There was barely any emotional impact. The reason being that they did not feel any emotional connection with the people in the photo since they do not know them.

Therefore, perhaps the suggestions that they introduced could help in improving this experience to allow for a better connection that would resonate with the mass audience.

  • Have the audio of kids playing and laughing in the background throughout as ambience sound
  • Add a visual effect of blood for everyone else but the grandfather (the last person standing)
  • Instead of the image of the grandfather, use a mirror to communicate that the if last person standing was you, how would you feel?
  • Establishing the context of the piece. [Is the participant the sole survivor or is the participant the people who passed on or are they just a third person?
  • Include the audio of the people who died to amplify the feeling of lost, capturing the essence of the person to create a narrative [eg. the recording of kids] –user will form a connection with the kid that would impact them more as they sympathise as they went along
  • Include recording of the grandfather (last man standing) of how he’s lost them or him crying.
  • Include the recording of the kids talking to the grandfather, having the user make the association that they are viewing it from the grandfather’s standpoint and that they’re not replying
  • Include recording of the kids talking to the grandfather but not have him reply [perhaps he doesn’t hear them?]
What surprised you while going through the process?
  • The fact that we did not consider the emotional connection the audience would not have since the photo was with people they were unfamiliar with
  • The unwillingness of some participants to repeat the steps to experience the piece
  • The critical importance of creating ambience to aid our user experience
  • The crucial importance on minute details
How can your apply what you have discovered to the designing of your installation?

We would definitely take into consideration all that we gathered through the following steps:

  • Be sure to add carefully curated ambience sound to allow users to connect with the piece and be emotionally invested
  • Be mindful of the narrative of the piece and consider the point of view of the participant
  • Creating an experience that involve the senses of a typical user that creates association and therefore allow for them to paint a visual in their head of our narrative or an interpretation of our narrative [eg. Have the kids call to the grandfather (user), add sense of smell through baby powder and axe oil]
  • Be critical in our decisions to create an immersive experience that would tug on heartstrings of our users. It has to be a somewhat universally accepted association that the user make to the piece to allow for an emotional connection to be established.

Research Critique 5 – Design Noir

March 24, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Limiting one’s creative scope and conforming to the industry’s standards all comes within the territory of being an employable designer. Be it graphics, fashion, film or products, the main goal is to have a deliverable that can cater and sell to the masses. The main issue here is the fact that designers see the marketplace as the only outlet to channel their works and that translates to creating products that can be mass produced to generate profits from the marketplace.  In addition to that, the lack of funding for designs that challenge the industry’s critical requirements are dismissed due to its niche nature. This therefore, puts designers in a tough position since success is determined by the valuation of their products.

However, with massive technological advancements over the years, rarely do we come across electronics that serves a purpose other than to satisfy physical needs of the masses. Film is a form of art but if you stop to ponder, you will soon realise how emotionally attached this form of art is. Design is exactly that. It requires idealogical-process thinking and challenging the mind to develop emotional connections with the objects. Of course, there is a need to make functional designs but that is what engineers do. What separates a designer from an engineer is their ability to effectively deliver a message with a design. One that is thought-provoking, therefore forcing change. In a social context, the aim industry of the design industry at the moment and what it has been for decades, is the churning out of products that is “smaller, faster, different, better,” Dunne, A. & Raby, F. (2001). The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. Birkhauser.

There is a gap to be bridged in the market for such designs to be purposeful and this is through the concept of Critical Design. Although it may not be widely accepted, the purpose of the nature of these designs are of such; to challenge social norms, question political impacts and generate change for progression, and this goes beyond physical change.

Critical design challenges the norm and pushes boundaries to provoke thought and instigate debate, without exercising the industry’s requirements to create a design that is marketable and commercially functional.

A way to go about this is to pose as a corporation rather than producing these ideas as an individual entity. The reason being that, “corporations have a bigger influence on reality than government, and buying power is more important than voting power.“Dunne, A. & Raby, F. (2001). The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. Birkhauser.

That in itself, is a true manifestation of the concept of power and politics of corporations. One is more likely to accept ideas of a whole corporation rather than a single artist who seems like he or she is experimenting with design which will more likely than not, be looked at as fine arts; something that is already so detached from the mass market consumption.

Maywa Denki posing with some of their products, Nobumichi Tosa, founder (middle)

One of the most iconic and extensive example is Maywa Denki. A perfect blend of art and corporate culture, it is originally founded by two brothers, Nobumichi and Masamichi Tosa. Nobumichi is now the sole president of Maywa Denki.  They describe themselves as ‘parallel world electricians’ and aptly so. They generated an apprehensive take on a corporation by producing a profile that explained the company’s activities for potential job applicants.

Maywa Denki was named after their father’s s electrical equipment factory that went bankrupt in 1979. “As a parody of a small manufacturer, it describes itself as “an electric company in a parallel world.” The nonsense machines are its “art resource” products; its performances provide “mass promotion;” and its “mass production”. Yamada, M. (2018). Twenty-five years in the company of Maywa Denki.  Japan Times, Japan. 

Nobumichi Tosa wearing Pachi-Moku

For the purpose of this essay, I am going to focus on the invention of Pachi-Moku. As former musicians signed with Sony Music Entertainment, it is not surprising that they fused music into their inventions. Pachi-Moku being one of the most well-known inventions by Maywa Denki, is their take on mechanical musical instruments.

Performance of Pachi Moku

Performance of Maywa Denki’s musical instruments

On the surface, it may seem silly to some when Nobumichi performs his brilliant work of art. However, through interviews and talks, the essence of his work is clearly motivated by challenging the norm and refusal to conform. In his TED Talk, he provided the example of aircraft starting off as a ‘nonsense machine’ because back then, no one would have believed of a flying vehicle. But since then, it’s become a norm and no longer seen as a ‘nonsense machine’. He also highlighted the difference between art’s ‘nonsense machines’ and engineering ones. Art’s nonsense machines however, involved the unexplained ideas to become the main focus of the concept, something that ‘Can never be explained by humans. That is the reason why art transcends time and moves us.’ This is essentially what critical design is. Maywa Denki places emphasis on ‘displaying rather than expressing.’

Through this, he allows the audience and the general public to experience his work and causes them to reflect upon why such things were created. This generated emotions within the audiences as well and spurt discussions amongst the designers in the industry as well.

Maywa Denki functions on the concept of “Mass-Pros’s”. Namely, Mass-Production and Mass Promotion. Mass Production is self-explanatory where products are created for the purpose of selling to the public.

In comparison, Mass Promotion is done through the live performances they conduct, globally where the demonstrate the use of their instruments, challenging the idea of musician celebrities who charge high prices for their tickets and sell them to those with a high education and are wealthy. In contrast, Maywa Denki’s idea of art is to sell art to a large public, making it more accessible to the masses to share the idea of their art instead of ripping them off for large profits. Instead, mainly to supply their design cycle.

Therefore, an importance should be placed on critical design instead of treating it as an after-thought, like it is currently. The purpose of this essay is not to downplay or criticise the industry’s current design ideology. Rather, it is to shed light and shift the focus on the urgent importance on Critical Design. The idea of it is to go against the conventional supply-demand product design and instead, to take an alternative approach to adopt a design process that could take an effect on the future of design. Critical design stretches the ability of the design process to its full potential and not just focus on the current needs of the masses. Inclusion and experimentation of concepts through Critical Design could lead to new inventions being created that could change the social, political and economic standpoint of the current. It helps to “promote this enlightening quality of critical design,”. Jakobsone, L. (2017). Critical Design As Approach To Next Thinking. Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

If we refuse to challenge the current industry norm as designers, would the world of design remain stagnant and emotionless? A single person would not make a difference but a community of designers, collectively, could challenge the industry to provide a balance of functionality, practicality as well as expression.

Link to presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zxacaHMNScjEG9CVsk2OLqFkeqBGauhBv5kdkB7eWEI/edit?usp=sharing

 

Micro-Project 3 – Together Split

February 6, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Micro-Project 3 was probably one of the most challenging one yet but definitely the one where I had the most fun.

For this project, we were required to create a final piece that was a collaborative effort. We all had to work towards a common goal to produce ONE final art piece.

Lei introduced this concept to us by making us do a quick class activity. This was a surrealism game called, Exquisite Corpse. In a group of 4, we folded a piece of A4 paper into 4 sections. Each person had to draw according to the word/description given by Lei. This part of the drawing was to be continued by the next person who was not allowed to take a peek at the previous drawing. This continued on and we all got to see the final piece as we unfolded the drawing and see how our drawings connected to each other. In this case, we each get to draw a part of figure (person/creature/etc) which combined to form the following.

Afterwards, the Micro-Project 3 was introduced. The idea behind this project was to use a streaming platform that could connect the 4 for us in a group together, to produce content in a third space via Instagram video chat. We all had to be in different locations and we had to produce a final piece that would have a sense of continuity amongst the 4 of us!

Before we decided on an idea, we attempted to match up our faces to see what we could work with. However, we failed miserably as seen from the photo below.

Hence, we used a different approach and planned things beforehand.  Our main objective as a group was to have a dance choreography, singing a simple song that we all knew a.k.a. the Alphabet Song. We did not coordinate our dances but we did coordinate certain movements as it moves along one video to another to create an impact and to attempt to create a shape.

Click for final video

There were so many challenges that we faced. We all separated to different locations and ended up communicating via the video chat. This was especially challenging as firstly, communication was an issue. The timings as to when we spoke led to it being messy as we didn’t know which person was talking to who. There were times where we just gathered in person to discuss which wasn’t ideal given the nature of this project.

Another challenge we faced was coordinating the steps with each other. The positioning of our hands had to be in the right directions to form the shapes we wanted to create through the screen. This was especially difficult to coordinate given the fact that at times, the signal could be interfered and someone would end the call. Due to that, the positioning of each person on screen, would change. After several tries, we figured out that that could be solved by the timing in which each one of us picks up the call. Hence, we did that and coordinated the moves again.

We attempted a total of 4 times before we got the final video. Even so, we couldn’t get the audio to work. We did check to see if turned on the audio while recording the screen but it didn’t work. Hence, what we had to do was to recreate the audio separate from the video and edited it into the final piece.

All in all, although it was the most challenging micro-project we’ve done, I felt that this was the most fun I had. Creating content with other members and listening to everyone’s creative input was helpful to create the final piece. It was also interesting to see how each of us interpreted things.

That being said, to answer some questions,

1. Which project did you feel you had the most creative control? Why?

I felt that Micro-Project 1 was the one where I had the most creative control. This was because everything was entirely based on my own creative direction, my point of view, my curation of filters to use, etc. That’s when I felt that I had the most creative freedom. Micro-Project 3 was the one where I felt I had the least creative control given that we all had to work towards a common goal but had to do things together and work cooperatively. Sure, we could all chip in to give input, but ultimately, we all had to agree and come to a compromise which I feel limits one’s creative exploration.

2. Which project had the most unpredictable outcome? Why?

Personally, I felt like Micro-Project 2 had the most unpredictable outcome. This was because that although we had some control over what our participants get to choose since we curated the choices, we still were not able to control their responses based on the polls we did. The participants had full control given the choices we provide. Therefore, I feel that that was the most unpredictable outcome as we could not have be sure of the choices our participants made collectively.

3. Which project best illustrates the concepts of DIWO & Open–Source? Why?

This is tricky given that all the projects resulted into a final piece that involved a collaborative effort.

If I had to choose one, I would say that Micro-Project 1 illustrated the concept of Open Source best while Micro-Project 3 illustrates DIWO best. To me, they’re slightly different; DIWO & Open Source.

Micro-Project 1 illustrates the concept of Open Source as the hashtag, collectively, as an outsider, it provides a more holistic insight into the life of an ADM student. It was a collective effort from differing opinions and views. Therefore, I felt like viewers are able to take what they may and interpret things accordingly which essentially highlights the strength of Open Source. I see Open Source as an inspirational outlet where people come to share their common knowledge.

Micro-Project 3 illustrates DIWO best because it involved the thorough and active participation of all the members to work towards a roughly planned common goal. As the name suggests, I think that the concept of Do-It-With-Others involves people working towards the same objective and building on each other’s ideas.

Micro Project 1: Creating the Third Space

January 18, 2019 / / 1 Comment

For this in-class project, we were tasked to go around ADM and take a picture/ pictures of an object or space that holds a meaning and is unique to the individual. We then had to post these photos on Instagram with the hashtag, #1010adm in which the collection of posts from other classmates created a virtual space online. It was pretty cool and interesting seeing the school in the perspective of different individuals. Interesting fact! What we found out was quite amusing! The collection of photos from our class came out to have a thematic flow in which the photos created a mysterious persona.

Here are the collection of photos that I took.

1.Why did I choose this space or object to photograph?

This was a space located in the basement floor of ADM. There is this particular room along the corridor of this floor which holds a very fond memory of my first semester in ADM. It was a place where my classmates and I used to spend our time (and many overnights), mugging for exams, completing projects after projects while having crazy conversations along the way.  They were times that I really looked forward to after lessons in school.

2. What are some of the characteristics of this alternative virtual space I had created collectively?

One of the characteristics include the thematic persona as mentioned above. It created a mysterious outlook from a viewer’s standpoint. This space that my classmates and I created collectively were mostly architectural posts or close-up of objects or space. What stood out was that the posts involved spaces or en route to the space that held a significant memory or experience of individuals. A story lied in every post.

As individual posts, mine, collectively,  were a series of photos that depicted the journey to the my “safe space” and the specific objects or view that I favoured in my secret location. I curated the photos in a way that they involved close-up shots instead of wide shots as I felt that it interpreted my thoughts more exclusively.

3. Under what circumstance will this alternative virtual space change?

I believe that there are a couple of circumstances which I will list below:

  • The turnover of students
  • The change of the physical space due to interior redecoration etc
  • The time period in which the students that took these photos are in – When we have graduated, we would probably feel differently about these spaces and the memory might not be as vivid or it could change in other ways that would change the interpretation and persona of this virtual space that was created collectively
4. How does this project relate to what we discussed in the lecture regarding co-creation, the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-With-Others (DIWO)?

In this project, we got to experience both DIY and DIWO in which DIY was when we were given the creative freedom to capture photographs that we had to complete individually. This means that we created were not influenced by anyone else and they were unique individual perspectives. The DIWO comes in after when we looked at the posts collectively under the hashtag #1010adm. These were a collection of posts from other classmates where they were seen as a whole. This was a collaborative effort in creating a virtual space online of ADM through different  perspectives to create a page that represented the insights from the students studying in ADM.

Cut Piece - Source: artnet

Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece

January 16, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Yoko Ono is a Japanese Multimedia Artist whose work also encompasses music, poetry, film, sculpture, installation, paintings and performance art.

Yoko Ono – Source: www.biography.com

Diving into one of her most famous pieces, the Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece have been staged five times. This remained a key piece in the Fluxus* Art Movement. This piece first debuted in Kyoto, Japan,  in 1964 at the Yamaichi Concert Hall.

Yoko Ono provided no context to the performance except providing an outline of the instructions which was to have the audience to cut a piece of her clothing, one by one, in which they could take the pieces they cut, home.

The question that will be addressed here is:

How does it alter the way an artist or designer create the work, when there is an interactive component?

First and foremost, having an interactive component, as one may know, will bring about a lasting impact on the participants. This is because, as shared in class, memories are connected to the emotions. It brings about a neurocognitive change. Every experience is unique. There is no possible recreation of the exact experience. Therefore, the experience of one audience member may vary and differ from the next audience member.

In this case, Yoko’s piece may or may not influence the audience members in choosing an area to cut or how much to cut. The actions of the others may influence the ones that come after to participate in the performance. The reason for this is that every audience member may very well cut a piece of Yoko’s clothing on their own terms, according to what they feel is appropriate or what they would like, etc. However, there are others who may be influenced by the actions of the rest that came before them. This highly depends on individuals.

Therefore, the way the artist create the work with an interactive component may involve the manipulation of resources to play to the advantage of the piece. This means to say that if the artist have a specific message that they may want to portray, their piece can be altered in such a way that it could sway the audiences to prove the artist’s standpoint. However, this also depends on the participants because in a way, everything else could be controlled but the audience is taken to be a variability.

This is very much visible in Yoko’s Cut Piece where in the beginning, the participants were hesitant and cut small pieces of her shirt or skirt. As the performance goes on, they became more daring and start cutting up bigger pieces. There were some participants who cut off the front of her undergarment and straps. Highly likely, this happened because people drew inspiration or seek approval of others during the performance. When they witness someone cutting up a bigger piece or a more risque piece of clothing, that is seen as approval or as the ‘okay’ to test waters and experiment further. In my opinion, this also is dependent on the personalities and values of the individuals on whether to experiment, follow or stay in the safe zone.

Hence, in order to create an interactive art that is effective, impactful and provide a long-lasting memory, this involves a proper understanding of human behaviour and psychology. Observational skills will come in handy! In comparison to creating a still art piece, an interactive art piece needs to be able to grasp the attention span of the audience when it is in motion/action.

*Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product.

Direct Source: Wikipedia

Sources:

https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/yoko-ono-cut-piece-1964/

https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2015/may/18/yoko-ono-s-cut-piece-explained/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3334843/

Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”