Category Archives: Assignment Wk 4

Response: Previous iLight exhibitions

I did not attend the previous years’ iLight but from what I can see on the website, there are several installations which I find interesting:

  1. MoonFlower by Yun, Singapore
Source of image: http://popwire.com.sg/buckle-up-for-a-visual-and-visceral-feast-at-i-light-marina-bay-2017/
Source: https://singaporemotherhood.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Moonflower.jpg?x17934

Based on my research, MoonFlower, by industrial designer Lee Yun Qin, was inspired by flowers (handmade by her mother). The modular flowers are powered by solar panel to create a luminescent display. What I find interesting was the option to make these flowers be “adoptable”.

I like how the flower petals are made using a mesh-like material to create a softer effect from the light, while it works like a lighting shade.

When I saw this exhibition on the web, it brought me back to the LED Rose Garden located at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. It looks similar — the arrangement of the flowers and the scenic view from afar.

Source: http://68.media.tumblr.com/b848a3ddd9dad723ff81e3e388f686f0/tumblr_nfnhsepUkM1ru6u3bo1_1280.jpg

 

2. HYBYCOZO by Yelena Filipchuk & Serge Beaulieu

Another installation that caught my eye the first thing when I came across the iLight website was this particular piece.

Source: https://www.ilightmarinabay.sg/-/media/Images/iLight/Installations/15_Light%20Origami/Hybycozo%20Big.jpg

My eyes caught the shadows and the details on the floor and thought of constellations, before actually looking more detailed to the entire structure. The lighting they used for this installation brought out a beautiful scenery too. I also found out that the designers were influenced by intersection of science, technology, geometry, materials and the artists’ favourite books. What I find interesting was the intricacy of the details and getting to know that they were inspired by Islamic patterns, then incorporated into this installation.

Week 4 Response: You are what you carry by Jan Chipchase

In the previous chapter, Chipchase did a research on the 3 important items in one’s bag — key, money, and mobile phone. In this chapter, Chipchase then move towards the research and study of “carrying behaviour”.

I’d agree to some of the behavioural study he shared in this chapter:

1)

“On public transit in China and Brazil you’ll often see riders wearing backpacks on their chests (or “frontpacks”), a strong indicator of a short range of distribution, a high risk of theft, and an acute awareness of that risk and the need to react quickly if errant hands start unzipping a pocket.”

I think one would behave in such a way out of security. For myself, when I traveled for the first time to China, my backpack would normally be placed at the front for safety purposes — as stated, to react quickly if errant hands start unzipping a pocket. However, I’ve started to realise that wearing the backpack at the front became a habit when I traveled overseas like, not only in China but also in Korea.

2)

“… mobile technology has dramatically changed people’s behaviours outside the home, from carrying less to remembering less to owning less.”

With the rise of mobile technology, people relied on digital maps rather than physical maps mostly as a choice of convenience. However, how much would an application help when it suddenly does not work at the time where one desperately needs it?

For example, I was using Google maps in Korea to search for the route to a destination but it was not able to locate. Thus I had to resort to a hardcopy map that I brought as an alternative to find my way.

Thus I feel that one should rely on technology as much as we rely on a physical tool.