Here’s my video documentation for my Paper Boats project (upgrade)! It’s a pity that the light detection wasn’t as smooth as I hope it would have been on the day of presentation, but nonetheless! I had fun and I hope you guys had enjoyed it as well. 
Here’s the video for final documentation!
Thanks for the footage for my documentation, y’know who you are! It has been a good run with you guys this semester. See y’all around!
“Float Away!” Origami Boats installation
Concept: To display life-sized origami boats at the ADM fountain, adding life to the school and make school a more fun place with such quirky installations that will remind students of “play” and not just work.
“Our differences do not set us apart” Photography installation
Concept: Our rooms are the spaces in which we dwell, and it reflects us, and information about us, i.e. personality, etc. It is interesting to notice how different each room can be even though they are side by side, and belong to the same household. This project would then aim to highlight the compromises that occur in a family.
“Departure” Interactive Narrative
Concept: Death is a difficult topic to be explained to children. This interactive narrative would be in the form of an digital illustrated storybook intended for children, to help them understand and deal with the passing of a loved one.
“Once upon a time” Interactive Website
Concept: Even in a tiny city like Singapore, there are places that are rich in history but forgotten as time passes by. We forget places such as the Istana Woodneuk/ Brunei Old Hostel that are now abandoned, and even the last Kampong in Singapore, Kampong Lorong Bangkok. This website would be a documentation of these places, with their history and their significance in Singapore.
“Kopi Kaki” Branding
Concept: As an avid traveller, I would always be looking out for souvenirs. Looking back in our country, I think the souvenirs we have are rather cliche and I would like to package our Singapore Kopitiam experience as a souvenir for foreigners. Specifically, with our drinks culture of ordering coffee and tea from these coffeeshops.
“Orhhor later…” Installation & publication
Concept: Why does the topic of death and mortality always have to be solemn and negative? A “fun” and “light-hearted” project dealing with the superstitions and folklore dealing with death. (i.e. there is a belief that if you sleep on the bed of the person who passed on 8th day, you will definitely dream of the person). This will involve a series of illustrations of what not to do according to superstitions and ultimately be put together as an installation.
Paper Boats.
Here’s a documentation of my analog interactive space! A mistake on my part to not have anticipated the rain, and only water proofing the bottoms and not the top. But none the less, thankfully I have enough footage (thanks Kamarul!) to be put together into a video.
Instead of the initial idea of having a huge boat that was able to carry a person in it, (due to limiting finances) I chose to approach the idea differently by constructing several smaller scale origami boats instead.
Overall, I was quite happy with the results, (and would be even happier if I had made them fully waterproof), as even in that short amount of time that they were displayed, they were able to capture the attention of many passer-by, who stopped to take a photo even in the rain! I even saw a few tags on Instagram which made me more motivated to create a more lasting installation for my digital one.
For the pitching of project ideas, I would like to suggest the following:
1 Personally, I would like to create an interactive installation that explores with the idea of Momento Mori, one that evokes potentially uncomfortable feelings of loss and empathy with the audience.
2 For the pair work, I would like to create a creative public space that encourages free artists expressions, like a lepak corner for artists to come together and share.
With regards to the works of Professor Louis-Philippe Demers, he explores a lot on the interaction between robots and humans (i.e. Inferno and The Blind Robot). What drives your intentions behind exploring this area?
It in intrigues me because of how people are willingly experiencing these, putting trust to the robots and letting the robots interact with them. To me, I would have my doubts going along with the movements of the robots, such as letting a robotic hand explore my face (as in The Blind Robot). Are people becoming to trusting on technology or do they have absolute trust the person that created it?
What are the key constrains that you have faced while working on the projects?
Idea? Make a life size “origami” boat with cardboard to be placed at the fountain in ADM
Why choose the ADM fountain? Common place that we walk past everyday and take for granted.
Why a origami boat? It is something that we played with as a child and familiar to all of us. I want remind people to “play”, and not just be so engrossed in work.
Interactivity? Changing how we perceive the common space, and maybe even encourage people to get into the fountain to have a photo taken with it, etc.
Future digitalisation? Addition of lights at night, and maybe even a small QR code printed on the boat to have a video shown, or # on instagram to have people participate in it.
Candice’s works draws my attention as it deals a lot with remembrance and ways she deals with her father’s passing. I feel a sense of familiarity with her works as it comprises of elements that are close to our hearts, i.e. incense paper, and it is very prominent in the South East Asian culture.
I have chose to elaborate on the two projects, “Crystal Universe” by TeamLab, and “Infinity Mirrored Room — filled with the Brilliance of Life” by Yayoi Kusama.
Both of the mentioned projects are light installation projects of Japanese origins. Both of them are similar in that they deal with LED lights suspended in a space, and both of these projects were likely to have focused intensively on the viewers’ experience rather than just making it a piece of art.
Though similar in that both simulate infinite spaces, they differ in the scale of materials and the method used to achieve it. In “Crystal Universe”, the infinite space is achieved by suspending 60,000 LEDs in the 4D space, while in “Infinity Mirrored Room”, it is smaller in scale, with hundred of small round LEDs and the infinite space effect achieved by strategic placement of mirrors and shallow pools of water on the ground. Based on its scale, we could also assume that “Crystal Universe” would have taken a longer schedule and planning as well as a higher budget for the project.
Furthermore, it is also an interactive installation where the viewers are able to influence the lights with their position, as well as selecting elements to bring to life display through their smartphones. Therefore would have required a longer planning and executing time for the programming and design of the interactivity of the project. Also, the fact that TeamLab is a “collective, interdisciplinary creative group” with varying professionals working together may have taken a longer time in communicating the idea to the different professionals and having everyone to work on the same page. On the other hand, Yayoi Kusama execute her works on her own.
I would say that the two works are site specific. However, with minor adjustments, it has been possible for the works to be readapted and showcased in galleries around the world.
The nature of the two projects probably differed from its objectives. Yayoi Kusama’s is a work of self expression, where she draws her inspiration (the polka dots) from her hallucinations, and also illustrates her confrontation to her fears. Whereas for TeamLab’s “Crystal Universe”, it is probably an exploration and collaborated take on spatial objects, where they define the elements in their work to be “connected within a spatial network, they form a unified artwork — a physical space that can be entered by the viewers”, thus with a main focus of replicating a “universe” to the audience, with them being the centre.
A class assignment on changing how our senses interact with our surroundings. Personally, I would feel that my primary and most important sense would be my sight. Also, this very basic privilege of the sense of sight is often taken for granted by many.
Having been introduced to glasses since I was 8, I hated anything that messes with my vision.
And hence to make people appreciate their vision more, I decided to do what I hate (haha), messing up other people’s vision. Instead of the typical frontal view that we were used to, I decided to have the class experience how fishes and other animals view, with their eyes on each of their sides.
In the video, in the little box I constructed, there were 2 mirrors that reflected the view of the left, and view of the right sides of the box.
The class was separated into two. The Wrappers and the wrapped. It was interesting to how we used Clingwrap differently for this exercise, wrapping ourselves together versus the usual wrapping of food.
Tension was then introduced in the later part of the exercise, where we were forced to stand closer to one another in order for this element of tension to be present in the group. The people who were wrapped then tried to create more tension by going in different directions, which ultimately we were then forced again to move back to our original proximity with one another as the cling wrap was too strong.