Category: Assignment Wk 4

Research on iLight festival 2017

Figure 1Figure 2Figure 3

I did not have the chance to attend the iLight Festival 2017, so I found some pictures online. But the pictures do not do them justice because I couldn’t see them in action. The year’s topic is nature, the artworks I prefer usually shows a big contrast with the urban landscapes.

Picture 1 and 2 show the artwork done by a Stockholm-based artist Aleksandra Stratimirovic, the artist called it the Northern Light. The artwork was showcased at many places. And this time the artist brought her version of ‘northern light’ to  Singapore iLight festival where people has no chance of viewing the real aurora.  Right as Marina Bay’s Waterfront, it creates a dreamy scene that contrasts with Singapore’s cityscape.

Picture 3 is an artwork called ‘Urchin’. It was set against Singapore’s Urban skyline. The motif on urchins reminded people of Chinese paper cutting. To me, the big scaled sculpture represents the nature and traditional culture, that still remain in the modern society of Singapore.

Chipchase – You are what you carry

It is interesting to see Chipchase’s research on people’s carrying behaviours carried out in different countries.

What we carry is very much dictated by the environment we are in. Within NTU, when I’m in the ADM building, I would leave my bag, wallet and even phone everywhere and leave to do other stuff, because I know the place inside out and I know that nobody would touch my belongings. When I go outside of ADM building, I would probably carry my bags all the time. And when I was in China, my mother would always warn me that I should carry my backpack in front and do not carry my phone by hand.

If you don’t pay attention to others’ behaviors when you go to a new environment, you will probably make mistakes. My cousin was on an exchange programme in Denmark, a country that was also known for its safeness. So he assumed it as a matter of course confidently left his wallet and bag at the seat to “reserve” it, and when he was back, the wallet was gone. We could thus infer that “choping” seats with your bag is not something usually happened in Denmark, people probably just assume the bag was abandoned.

Chipchase also stated that the advanced mobile technology had changed people’s behaviour in many ways. From carrying less, remembering less to owning less. Electronic and biometric lock are replacing the traditional lock and key, purchasing and transferring money can be easily done by phone. With the new bike-sharing and car-sharing system, no one needs to own a bike to use it. Mobile technology is renovating the ways people do banking, education, entertainment and so on. It also means we are experiencing a never before vulnerability. If there a minor breakdown with the system, we could lose all the essentials for survival. As designers, we need to take the risk, but also beware and pay attention to it.