Interactive Spaces – References

In-Class Assignments –

Study of Spaces (Physical):
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/interactive-spaces-study-of-spaces-physical/
Study of Spaces (Static/Moving Image):
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/study-of-spaces/
100 Lights / Pavilion:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/100-lights-pavilion/
Brand Pavilion:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/interactive-spaces-nike-pavilion/

Experiences –

BePartArt:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/jng134/youre-the-only-one-i-see-you-take-my-breath-away/
MakingSpaces:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/a160043/interactive-two/

Final Project –

Concept:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/interactive-spaces-week-06/
Analog:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/interactive-spaces-analog-project/
Digital:
https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/wong1031/interactive-spaces-digital/

100 Lights / Pavilion

1 Lightbulb – Placed against the wall, pointing directly at the viewer.


10 Lightbulbs – Stacked in a pyramid at the centre of the room.


100 Lightbulbs – Arranged in a sloping gradient


Singapore Pavilion

Although we often say that Singapore does not have a strong identity as it is made up of a melting hotpot of cultures, what is iconic to Singapore lies in what we identify with as uniquely Singaporean behaviour. The ideal pavilion would be made to represent the Kallang Wave. The Kallang Wave has its origins from the old National Stadium, and is a representation of Singaporean pride, community and togetherness. It is usually performed at mass events such as the National Day Parade, and sports activities, particularly in Football matches. The Kallang Wave is performed by having rows of people standing and waving their hands up one after another, creating a wave-like formation that ripples through the entire stadium.

The pavilion would behave somewhat like Ned Kahn’s Wind Arbor, a site-specific installation at the Marina Bay Sands.

Interactive Spaces –  Nike Pavilion

Nike. Nails. Graciousness. 

To us, Nike is a brand that is very focused on sports and sportsmanship – kindness and courtesy. Nike has always been about advocating empowerment, empathy and impact. Hence, we propose a pavilion for Nike based on the term “Nailed it!”, which expresses a successful or skillful accomplishment of a task.

The pavilion is made up of  a series of nail-shaped basketball hoops that forms the Nike logo when viewed from the front. Basketball is a sport that does not require much to learn – it is the simple act of placing the ball in the hoop that makes the accomplishment beautiful and worthwhile. The differing heights of the hoops are designed to accommodate to a diverse and inclusive society – young and old, abled and disabled, regardless of any differences that the human race may have. The pavilion also allows for people to come together and engage in a game of basketball, creating an opportunity for building connections and sharing memories with one another. In line with Nike’s belief of “using the power of sport to move the world forward”, the hoops of the pavilion may be taken down and reused as basketball hoops to create courts in less privileged countries, spreading the love for sports and nurturing sportsmanship.

Interactive Spaces – Digital

S ECOND
By Tisya & Jiaman

How long is a second? How much time is between one heartbeat and the next?

Our understanding of time is through rhythm and repetition. The rhythm of ticking clocks, the rising and setting of the sun, metronomes, and counting mentally by the thousands, are all indications of time passing by. Time is man-made; there is no definite indication of time, and each one of us perceives it differently.

S ECOND (Pronounced as “Split Second”), aims to manipulate one’s sense of time through an ever-changing, rhythmic soundscape that allows viewers to visualise their own sense of time. By creating a spatial instrument that displays the viewer’s internal rhythms, the repetition of sound becomes a personal indicator for the passing of time. Participation from multiple viewers, collectively creates a soundscape, allowing them to perceive all the contributed rhythms as a whole and finding their own sense of time within that.


PROCESS

With the addition of digital components, we were able to challenge what is it that really defines a space. As the analog version of our installation was site-specific, we wondered if we would be able to take it out of the site and to an outdoor location through digital means.

Digital Input
Since our project was about rhythms in time, we were thinking of how else we might be able to improve on the interaction. Hence, we thought of utilising the human rhythms of our body clocks and have it sync to the rhythm of our installation. We were considering three different kinds of bodily rhythms: the rate of our blinking, breathing or heartbeat. We decided to settle for breathing because it is something that we do out of necessity but also mostly subconsciously, in a similar way as to how we notice the passing of time.

We tested the effectiveness of this with a microphone sound sensor by using an LED to indicate if the sound from breathing was detected.

The challenging part with this was figuring out how to display it such that viewers will know that it is meant for breathing without the use of instructions. We did not want people to resort to using other methods to trigger the sensor as it would remove the poetics of the interaction.

In the final installation, the repetition of dripping is synced to the visitors’ breathing activity. Through different rates of breathing, and by choosing to control or not control it, the viewer is able to modify the sound produced in the installation.

Digital Output
We also wanted to see how far we could take our concept digitally by recreating the effect of dripping water with light. We successfully managed to make it flow with every trigger of the sensor, but it was not durational – meaning that with a longer breath it will “flow” more.

However, after receiving feedback, we realised that we were straying too far from our initial project – not adding but rather modifying. Hence, we decided to stick to our initial idea of using dripping water to create a soundscape and used a solenoid valve to control it instead.

Setup

We made use of the existing metal structure outside ADM for our installation. As the location is outdoors, the suspended lids also tend to react to the natural environment. When a strong wind blows, the lids tend to hit one another, creating a soundscape on its own. With a lighter wind, the lids shift slightly, creating a varied soundscape when interacted with.

We also modified the sound that we captured from the surroundings through MaxMSP to recreate the effect of being in the staircase. What was interesting was the added dimension of sound that could also be detected from the environment such as cars passing by, people talking and birds chirping, etc. In this way, the outside space sounds like as one would if they were in the staircase – hence bringing the outdoors, indoors. The reverb effect also made users more aware of the sounds that they made as compared to when they were in the staircase.


Interactive Spaces – Study of Spaces (Physical)

01 Ugly Lies The Bone Set Design by Es Devlin (Performance)

Ugly Lies the Bone set

02  WeltenLinie by Alicja Kwade

03 Icewatch by Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson’s work consists of blocks of ice that broke off from an ice sheet in Greenland. By transporting it to exhibitions in developed cities, he aims to raise awareness of the seriousness of climate change by bringing it to the people and letting them witness the impacts of it for themselves. His work encourages visitors to make use of all their senses when interacting with the ice blocks by touching, smelling or hearing the crackling of the ice. The introduction of a natural foreign object into a man-made environment and placing them in a circular manner also draws associations to time. The rate of its depletion is a reminder of the urgency of the matter and encourages viewers to take action. In some sense, the work can be seen as participatory, since all of us are contributing to global warming through our actions.

Interactive Spaces – Analog Project

S ECOND
By Tisya & Jiaman

How long is a second? How much time is between one heartbeat and the next?

Our understanding of time is through rhythm and repetition. The rhythm of ticking clocks, the rising and setting of the sun, metronomes, and counting mentally by the thousands, are all indications of time passing by. Time is man-made; there is no definite indication of time, and each one of us perceives it differently.

S ECOND (Pronounced as “Split Second”), aims to manipulate one’s sense of time through an ever-changing, rhythmic soundscape that allows viewers to discover their own sense of time in a place that lacks any evidence of it. By creating a spatial instrument that generates rhythms, the repetition of sound becomes an indicator for the passing of time. Through participation, the viewer is able to modify the length of time in the installation, affecting their own perception and that of the next.


PROCESS

Driven by how sound can be an important determiner in defining a space, our initial processes revolved around the idea of playing with sound and one’s perception of it. We were keen on creating an experience that deals with an unseen space – the mind space.

Initially, our intention was to create an installation where visitors would lose their sense of time. We wanted to achieve this with a combination of repetitive motions and a droning sound. We were very inspired by free-hanging kinetic sculptures that can rotate freely on its own axis. Using this, we thought that it might be possible to generate a consistent sound from it through the friction between materials.

Unfortunately, this was difficult to achieve due to the analogous nature of the project that we had to do. To generate a constant and consistent droning sound, we would have to defy the laws of physics, which is I M P O S S I B L E as everything in motion would eventually stop at some point. Our next closest bet was to make use of the force from magnetic repulsion in an attempt to turn the mobile. Sadly, this also failed to work, as the polarity of the magnet was difficult to control and can be quite erratic and inaccurate at times.

Moving forward, we wondered if having the structure behave in the opposite manner could also create the experience of time manipulation that we intended. By designing a moment that was suspended in stillness, the mobile could be captured in a way that gives the impression of time coming to a standstill. Although this might be visually portrayed, our minds are still very well aware that time passes by regardless.

As time is something that is man-made, each of us has a different understanding and perception of it. In the location that we have selected, there is completely no indication of time (considering that one doesn’t look at their phones or watches). It is a completely enclosed space that has no exposure to sunlight or time-based artificial light.

Given the nature of the space, everyone would develop their own sense of rhythm and repetition to determine how much time has passed, based on their personal perception of how long a second lasts. Hence, we decided to design an ever-changing, rhythmic soundscape that allows viewers to discover their own sense of time in a place that lacks any evidence of it.

The structures used to contain water were created out of bottles and metal rods, held together by bits and pieces of hardware parts such as screws, grommets, hooks, fasteners, pegs and stoppers. Each bottle has a different configuration to attach it to the rod, and also has a hole that allows and controls where and when the water drips. The holes are either attached with hollow brass rods that slow down the speed of water, or “pins” that were made out of wire and glue. The pins prevents water from gushing and instead collects them on the tip to create tiny drops of water.

These structures are attached onto the railings of the staircase, held in place by L-shaped brackets. The industrial look of the installation was intended to fit with the space, especially with the metal railings and concrete floor.

At the bottom-most layer of the installation, metal lids of varying sizes and heights were suspended, creating a different tone with each impact of water dripping onto it. Due to the reverberative nature of the space we have chosen to work with, the lids were confined at the bottom as the sound travels and echos more.

We did also consider modifying the lighting of the space as we felt that the warm light in the staircase did not really suit the atmosphere of our installation. We covered the lights and placed tiny white balls of light on the lids. This provided a nice reflection of the metal surface as well as the water droplets on it.


 

Interactive Spaces – Study of Spaces (Moving & Static)

01 Flatland series by Aydin Buyuktas (Static Image)

rolling+landscapes+and+cow+farms+seemingly+double+over%2C+while+baseball+and+football+stadiums+appear+to+reverse+the+laws+of+gravity.

“The mind can calculate astronomical dimensions as abstract entities.” – Topophilia, Yi-Fu Tuan.

Buyuktas’ work fulfils exactly what Tuan says by creating a continual perspective – from a frontal to an overhead one. The photos enable us to see beyond what we are able actually able to see with our own two eyes if we were at the same location. Due to the depth and symmetry that is displayed through his photos, we see less of long roads that appear endless. Instead, we are able to identify more of the patterns that appear with the repetition in these spaces. The photos also reminds us of the vastness of the world that we live in. Through Buyuktas’ work, we are able to identify a culture that resonates with the world based on the commonalities in different countries and how their spaces are organised. His work is reflection of how humans seem to have this innate attraction to symmetry and repetition. The framing of his work, from its symmetry and length of the frame naturally leads the viewer from their eye level and upwards, instead of having a main point of focus.

02 Welcome Home by Spike Jonze (Film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305ryPvU6A8

03 Powers of Ten (1977)  by Charles & Ray Eames (Film)