FYP Concept (FYP18)

Background
Throughout the entire course of my FYP journey thus far, I had ongoing troubles trying to focus and stick to a single good idea. Often, I oscillated between various ideas and concepts, at times nearly settling for a topic but ultimately was unable to fully commit to any.

For once, I still feel inclined towards my chosen topic of continuity, and I can see myself working towards it. However, due to difficulties in thinking of the best idea, or installation product which would reflect the idea, I have decided to make continuity into a theme which I would actively study through my work.

Exploring the Idea

More mindmapping on concept
Ideas on installation

I did mention of the continuity of time, or rather, presence in my previous post, and tried to translate it into objects – firstly, through organic objects – plants, flowers and whatnots, within a physically enclosed space eg. boxed up cube, or through simpler kinetic motions (swinging a pendulum, or strings in circular, repetitive motions).

However, I still felt that these methodologies, though were to some extent able to express my idea sufficiently enough, felt lacking and was not ‘true’ to myself. At the same time, most ideas felt as though they had a ‘statement’ to respond towards, rather than circling and slowly delving, and exploring this dubious topic of continuity.

Thus, I decided to latch onto this thought and express it systematically: a Study on (the theme of) Continuity.

Exploring the Medium

Robotic Arm idea: in middle of sketches

Concurrently, I found myself attracted to this idea of a robotic arm, who, through replicating a human motion, could be doing a ‘performance art’ on behalf of an actual human person. At the same time, using a robotic arm meant that this continuity could be forcefully implemented and maintained for however long I wanted.

At the same time, I was hooked onto the idea of the moss (based on actual moss gardens I have seen) as being a living creature, but at the same time, it evokes a sort of tranquility that echoes the exact sentiments I found within the subject of Continuity and wanted to bring across in my artwork.

See: bottom left hand corner for contained-within-box moss sketch

Thus, I decided upon a working idea, of containing the box within a glasshouse/terrarium setup (picture above), and incorporate the robotic cyclic arm into the setup.

Actual Set-up

Room set-up

Originally, I wanted the study of continuity to be expressed using a few different objects (eg. 3-5), each object exploring a different theme. These objects would then be scattered around the room, and the space would be one resembling an experimental lab.

However, I acknowledge that time is not on my side so I decided to just go big on one particular, singular machine which I have always been keen on.

Presenting… my moss machine (for the lack of a better title at the moment)!

Moss machine ver 1

With reference to the previous picture: the moss will be placed in the tray, while a rotating system will continually rotate the moss.

It serves to critique the continuity of time, through rotating a living object (the moss), despite, appearance wise, the moss looking like a non-living object. This ties in with the idea that continuity is always present, but not always acknowledged and recognised. This study tries to extenuate the idea, and present it – as it is – to the audience.

Rough Mock-up

What worried me the most, was the mechanics of the system. I thus made a mock up with paper!

However, there definitely were areas to improve on – such as the hinges had to work smoothly enough, sufficient support had to be accorded to the trough.

I’ll continue to work on it this week!

 

On Continuity, Time, and Everything Else (FYP18)

Some Reflections on my project
It’s 2018; cue a quick recap on 2017’s highlights: I played about with different materials, tested out several light effects on bubbles, and did a couple of projection tryouts. However, ideation wise, I was admittedly was pretty much stuck, despite my set topic on grief/loss. It was tough to translate the ideas into an actual artwork, and I hit a roadblock before slowly, but surely, losing interest in the topic.

Come December 2017, where I took time off fyp, and expanded my perspectives through chatting with people of different backgrounds. I realised one very prominent theme, of continuity. Be it a person stuck in memories of the past, or someone stuck in ennui, time will continue passing and you will be forced to move on. Personally, it also tied in with my belief that only through hard work from yourself is the only way to get yourself out of this stuck situation. That as a person, one will continually have to push yourself, to continue moving.

In other words,

Screen capture from the movie [The Girl who Leapt Through Time]
Interestingly, I thought that even though we as humans are continuously moving, we do not internalise the present situation of the ‘being’, of the time that it currently passing by us. For the lack of a better word, I’d call this the ‘continuity of presence’ – somewhat similar to the continuity of time, I wish to emphasise on and focus more on ‘presence’. In which, one of the focal mediums by which this presence can be translated would be through time, and these will be the focused topics in my fyp project.

More on the continuity project

Mindmap of said topic

In part, it becomes a development from my previous topic of accepting loss – it’s moving on, and acknowledging the larger presence of the flow of time, or rather, the continuity of time in the larger sphere of things.

In particular, I wished to express this topic, and visualise into an seen experience.

I highlighted several factors of which were the most important for the given topic, and which I will clearly insert into my project.

Continuity of presence operates clearly on 3 different aspects:

  1. Imagined
  2. Independent
  3. Changing

Why imagined?
The flow of time remains a philosophical debate , where as creatures of the world, we come up with our own imagined concept of time to internalise the continuity we experience. It is arguably just an illusion, as our way of understanding this abstraction with our limited perception. According the article, the flow of time is such an conceptual entity that it is understood through the transition between the past, present, and future, whom we mark as individualised points.

Therefore, I’d like to push for the argument that this continuity of presence is an imagined concept.

Why independent?
It is independent of external events, and it can only go forth one way in a fixed trajectory. It goes forward in its own speed, at a rate of 1 second per second.

Why changing?
Say hi to the clique saying: change is the only constant in life.

With continuity, there is progression. Therefore, no matter how minimal, there will definitely be changes that are evident. Movement, or changes, can be shown through continual, evident changes or through highlighting the differences between the previous and present state of matter.

I end this section by the dictionary definition of continuous –

“Marked by uninterrupted extension in space, time or sequence”

These subthemes are what I aim to introduce into my project.


Artist References

Regarding the artist references, I looked at various artists who utilised light as a medium.

Why light? I felt that light (strobe, projection, led bulbs, led strips, neon lights) could be an interesting medium to build upon. Partially, this was because light has a fleeting ‘lightness’, which I thought was similar to the lightness as perceived by the inadequacy of words, speech or objects to quantify the continuity of time.

Olafur Eliasson’s Timeless Garden

According to Eliasson, he saw his works as vessels for experiencing reality, “creating new perceptions of the world” (https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/olafur-eliasson/). At the same time, he proposes a dual-self awareness – of what we see, and also of ourselves in the midst of seeing.

It is a matter of becoming aware of what we see, but also of being aware of ourselves in the act of seeing. Or, as the artist puts it, “seeing yourself seeing”, of acknowledging our presence and our participation.

I find it particularly interesting that Eliasson’s approach was not through showing the continuous flow of water, but rather by utilising intelligently the strobe lights, he was able to show that there was changes, albeit frame by frame. By proving the opposite/outcome of change, he shows continuity within the flow of the bigger space.

Teamlab’s Black Wave

Though the teamlab’s concept behind this artwork was not focused on the continuity of time, but rather on generating a force of nature based on hard science and coding, I really liked how this artwork brought about a sense of calm and really allowed visitors to connect with nature, and possibly, reengage unknowingly with the passage of time, and presence of the man made waves.

Joao Costas’ and the wind was like the regret for what is no more

As an outcome of my previous artwork research, I decided to delve slightly deeper into how can one translate ideas into physical installations. One of which was Costas’ wind installations, where he altered the space, drawing attention to wind, and changing it into a sense (sound) which we could experience more knowingly.

Leo villareal’s Cylinder

On Villareal’s biography page, it reveals his inner thoughts and concepts behind his installations. Particularly, I liked how his works explored the physical and dimension of time, both in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. In fact, one might argue that his works and art collective team Nonotak operated on similar principles – the common usage of simple forms and lights to create a more complex structure.

Tokujin Yoshioka’s Lexus

Using optical fibres, Yoshioka created this mirage which I really liked based on my personal preference. As I had done a previous installation using strings, I found this particularly captivating and considered once whether to continue enriching my past string installation into something as large and monumental as Yoshioka’s work.

Ryoji Ikeda’s Test Pattern [100m Version]

Flow: as seen through black and white linear imagery, Ikeda renders data into images.


Perhaps, what I should consider is what aspect of time, space, or continuity which I want to alter into the visual scene?

My Inspiration: ‘Home Within Home’ by Do Ho Suh

do ho suh ‘home within home’ (installation view) museum of modern and contemporary art, seoul, korea november 12, 2013 – may 11, 2014 courtesy mmca, korea
do ho suh
‘home within home’ (installation view)
museum of modern and contemporary art, seoul, korea
november 12, 2013 – may 11, 2014
courtesy mmca, korea

Do Ho Suh is a Korean sculpture and installation artist who was born in Korea and subsequently relocated to the United States. His artwork ‘home within home within home within home within home’ is an immersive installation built using silk. It is a full-scale recreation of his past residences – the traditional korean style housing he stayed it during his childhood, which is enveloped by another replica of his first housing in the United States where he later relocated to.

The artwork almost resembles a blueprint, and constitutes of overlaying significance – of Do Ho Suh’s experience leaving his homeland to the US, of his Korean home within his US home, and finally within the walls of the musuem. This multi-layered narrative inspires me as we delve deeper into his experience, not just as an artist but also as a human.

Image Credits

LED Adafruit Strips (Mini Project) – Temperature sensor

I made a little device that helps to tell you what temperature your cup of cuppa is from the colour of the led light strip. Basically, warmer -> reddish undertone, colder (and nearer to room temperature) -> blueish undertone.

However, the temperature sensor took quite some time to sense the change in temperature, hence it might be better to use it to test when your hot water has sufficiently cooled, rather than how hot it is. As waiting for the hot water to cool down has a somewhat similar (ie. longer) timeframe available for the temperature sensor to sense the actual temperature.

 

img_3576

img_6578

img_3577

Up: Final Prototype

How it was made:

img_6600

The temperature sensor poked through a tiny hole in the cardboard. Place the cup above this hole.

img_6597 img_6598

An example of different colours the LEDs were capable of. Blue (cold), Red (warm)

img_6591 img_6601 img_6592 img_6575

An Arduino Uno, and Adafruit library was used to make the code.

A Collection of Consciousness / End of Semester Project

Project Brief: A Collection of Consciousness utilises the method of question and answer to seek out one’s subconscious – psychological and emotional state alike. It then shows the participant a visual and auditory representation of his subconscious.

The set up: A total of 2 screens – one huge projector screen, and another smaller computer screen to look at for the questions. There is also a 3-step ‘dance pad’ for participants to select their answers.

2016-04-21 17.58.29

 

An example of a computer graphic shown on screen:

2016-04-21 17.58.42

 

The ‘dance pad’ was situated right in the centre – enjoying a vantage point of the screen. However, participants had to continually turn their head sideways to look for the questions.

2016-04-21 17.57.20

 

Initial idea:

2016-04-24 03.18.50

Initially, I planned on having the laptop right in front of the screen, but decided against it as it would block the visuals. Also, I planned on using motion sensing to trigger the selection of choices, but decided against it – past experience with it has taught me that different lighting would affect the sensing, and motion sensing as a whole might not be very accurate. Hence, I decided to change to using a touch sensor as my item of choice to trigger off the feedback.

 

Questions

I also planned to have a total of 20 questions at the start. Later, I scaled it down to 7 questions as the patch was becoming too large. I based the style of my questions on the ISFG Personality test. I also researched on the different determinants of one’s consciousness, or to be more accurate, psychological state and came up with the following:

2016-04-24 03.18.30

Thus, I decided to base my questions on these 3 factors:
1. Mental Wellness
2. Emotional Wellness
3. Intellectual Wellness

I do understand that the limited questions might not raise an accurate determination of one’s psychological state, but at present it manages to cover all 3 factors as a whole.

Here are my initially planned 10 ideas:

  1. How are you feeling today? Optimistic (faster), no opinion (slower), disengaged (more jazzy)
  2. You do not mind being the centre of attention. No, maybe, yes (change of beat)
  3. You get tensed up and worried that you cannot fulfil expectations (1-3) (change of colour and size, and zamp)
  4. You have cannot finish your work on time, what do you do? You: Continue working on it hard past the deadline, give up, blame and berate self (ADD ON NEW SOUNDTRACK, faster, slower, becomes white noise etc)
  5. Choose one word. I, me, them (goes down to nil, pale, sound slowly goes down to a steady thump)
  6. You often feel as though you need to justify yourself. Disagree, no opinion, agree
  7. You are _____ that you will be able to achieve your dreams.
    Optimistic, objective, critical
  8. Your travel plans are usually well thought-out. Disagree, neutral, agree
  9. Do you know what you want over the next 5 years? Yes, it’s all planned out, gave it some thought, will see how it goes
  10. You tend to go with the crowd, rather than striking it out on your own. Disagree, mix, agree
  11. Do you like what you see? Yes, No but I want to continue improving, no I wish I could restart
  12. Only you yourself know what you want. Do you see yourself? -> restart

I planned for the user to finish playing the entire round of questions, and the different answers would add on different, unique layers onto the graphic – creating a different, unique shape and colour for each player at the end of the game.

Technically, I used jit.gl.text and banged the questions (in messages) at intervals.

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.39.11 AM

Here is a small portion of my subpatch for the questions, which were to be shown on the computer screen later during the actual artwork.

 

Graphics

The changes in shape were made by sending messages (eg. Prepend shape – torus) to each individual attrui. In brief, these were altered: shapes, colours, how fast or slow the graphics ‘vibrate’, the range and scope it expands until, and the ‘quickness’ or ‘slowness’ of how fast it moves. Graphics was also rendered and altered in real-time.

To create 3D graphics, jit.gen, jit.gl.gridshape, jit.gl.render, jit.gl.mesh and jit.gl.anim were used. While I initially planned to use jit.gl.mesh, and plot out my own points to be animated (creating a more abstract/different/random shape), I spent a total of 5 days to figure it out, but failed to, hence the final project turned out different from expected. However, I am still pleased with the final outcome.

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.29.13 AM Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.29.49 AM Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.29.54 AM

Here is my patch for reference.

The graphics was the most challenging portion of my entire project, making or breaking it. Perhaps it was not the most brilliant idea to foray into the untouched lands of openGL, but as I have always been interested in 3D graphics as a whole, it became an interesting experience for me.

 

Sensors/Teabox

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.43.59 AM

3 dance pads were used, and allowed for participants to send in their chosen responses to the questions to MaxMsp. Only 3 options were allowed, as it seemed more intuitive to the common user.

During the actual tryout on friday 22nd April, I realised that the trigger was far too sensitive, and questions were gone through far too fast. Hence, on the afternoon, I further added the below objects to slow down the sensing:

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.43.41 AM

The counter value is to be changed – depending on how fast or slow you prefer the trigger to be.

 

Sounds

As the graphic rendering and the sounds were tied between each other, I decided on altering the sounds to firstly: give the sense of being enveloped in the whole experience, and also to further tie up the connection between sound and graphics. As aforementioned, the vibration of the graphics is with accordance to how loud, in terms of decibels, of the sound itself.

A total of 3 sounds were used. The longer the participants played, the more ‘rich’ the sound becomes: it becomes more shrill (higher pitch), and the speed of the soundtrack decreases, just to name a few. The longer you play, the more unorganic and synthetic the sounds become. It ties in with the visuals, which starts of as a red, beating object (that reminds one of the heart), but it starts to gradually take on inorganic, abstract forms. This was symbolic of the birth of a lifeform – firstly, you start off as a beating heart, but life’s experience will gradually shape you into becoming a unique being.

Here are the 3 sounds used:

 

 

See the final artwork in action:

Cat in the box! / Phigets Servo-motor controller

image1

My little cat! Created out of recycled cardboard, with a mishmash of different scotch tapes. As in outer side of the cardboard has graphics printed against it, I decided to invert it, thereby cutting the box up and attaching them together to create my very own box.

IMG_3323 copy

Strings pull the lid close, and the small piece of cardboard pushes the lid up. The cat itself was a makeshift shape of a cat.

IMG_3324 copy

As seen. In total, I used 2 servo motors – one to control the cat, the other to control the lid. Perhaps, with better crafting skills, I would be able to cut the number of servo motors down to one. To do this however, I require a larger box – currently, the box is palm-sized – and more ‘attachments’ to attach the cat to the handle/gear that pushes the lid open. To simplify things, I decided to do without it.

IMG_3325 copy

IMG_3326 copy

Peekaboo! The cat comes out a few milliseconds, after the lid opens.

IMG_3327 copy

IMG_3330 copy

Attaching the cat box to MaxMsp via a cable.

IMG_3341 copy

The inner workings of the cat box – one servo motors is raised in the air, the other attached to the ground.

When one speaks to the box, the lid opens – but no cat in sight! For this is sure some shy cat. Hence, speak louder, but what you say does not matter. The cat will appear for a short while, then disappear, if the threshold volume has been reached. Otherwise, only the lid will open.

 

See it in action:

In hindsight, I would have included an additional feedback – where the cat would mew back at the user, via an added soundtrack into the max patch. Pertaining to the documentation, I would have also put in human interactions (which I forgot to record earlier) – perhaps, of the user drumming the lid of the box, or attempt to catch the cat.

 

Patch used:
Finalised Patch Cat in the box

“Music Instrument” [the Tun-tun]: Final Product / Assignment 2

thumb_IMG_0992_1024

thumb_IMG_0993_1024

thumb_IMG_0994_1024

thumb_IMG_0995_1024

thumb_IMG_0998_1024

Depicted above is the final prototype of the tun-tun.

Functions are as stated (from top-down):

  1. Tapping top of head – triggers a beat once
  2. Pulling of left ear – controls the volume, and triggers the melody once
  3. Pulling out/pressing hard on tip of tongue – triggers a voice on repeat, pull it out again to switch it off
  4. Slide the “voice box” up and down – change the pitch of the sound effect

All sounds are recorded in real-life; however, they do not sound melodious when mixed together. New sounds can be input(ed) to replace the current sounds.

Physically speaking, the product stands at my chest-level.

thumb_IMG_1002_1024

thumb_IMG_1003_1024

Max MSP patch as depicted below:

Screen Shot 2016-02-15 at 6.56.41 PM

See it in action:

 

“Radio” [the Singing Jacket] / Assignment 1

Finalised Patch(the singing jacket)

Use of controls to ‘play a radio’ from a playlist. Overall, there will be background music (Soincidence soundtrack) playing throughout the entire duration, while toggling various aspects of the sensors (jacket) will trigger an additional sound to be played, as seen from the playlist above.

Sensors/Feedbacks:

  1. Pressure Sensor (large) placed in pocket:
    Switch it on and off, pause, resume

    whatsapp 3

  2. Bending Sensor placed at wrist:
    Bend Wrist to change tracks

    whatsapp 2

  3. Gyroscope placed at nape of neck:
    Function 1 – [Front/back] Bend back and forth to change volume (The more you bend, the louder it is)
    Function 2 – [Right/left] Bend to your right to change pitch (high pitch with more obvious bend)

    whatsapp 1

Combine all actions and create your own unique song.

 

Comments, and reflections:

  • Prof Demers commented that having the actions not ‘fixed’ by physical boundaries will allow for greater freedom, and subsequently, more ‘fun’ in playing with the jacket. However, it is risky as the feedback is harder to control
  • Creating 2 different feedbacks for the gyroscope is not ideal: while activating one function, the other function is also inadvertently activated (unwanted feedback)
  • Difficult to control 2 feedbacks which requires somewhat similar actions to activate (for gyroscope to change pitch and volume)
  • Swinging hands to activate bending scope was unnatural
  • In reflection, perhaps limiting the scope, or narrowing the threshold for activation would help control the feedback, and simplify ways to activate the feedback
  • I could incorporate the zip/hood of the jacket, etc. zipping the zipper, or wearing the hood
  • Perhaps some sensors could be placed on the body of the user, instead of solely on the jacket as at current

See it in action: