Brainstorming #02

CD + leaflet/cards

CD-plate + bok / ”cards”. Sound installation, accompanied by visuals, feelings.
Could maybe be a good idea.

I’ll make an audio CD with instructions on how to use the book – “Turn to page two”.

Man blar opp på bildet. Lyder spilles av. Lukter?? Følelser. Materialer.

Instrukser fra stemmen. Tom side. Stemme: close your eyes. Lyder.

”You are happy. You are in a friendly town in eastern europe. You are dining at the local café. Something feels wrong. You feel that you are not alone.”

“You have just woken up from a bad dream. You know what you dreamt isn’t real, but the bad feeling still remains”

“Can you remember the last time you were truly happy?”

“Without opening your eyes, turn to the next page”. Leave a picture on these pages.

“Touch the page. Can you feel it?” Using cowskin with cownoises, cowsmell.

This has to be put in context with TTZ. Let the audience concentrate and embrace the feelings I try to make.

This book could contain various elements – text, pictures.

Picture of a cow – sound of a sheep

The images could also be shown on a big screen, although it’s important to have the “real thing” available.

China Power Station II

Last friday our class in Konseptkunst II went to the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo to see their latest exhibition, China Power Station. The various artworks were made by young, Chinese artists, and the exhibition did, to a large extent, revolve around the recent growth in China’s economy and the subsequent clash between traditional, Chinese values and modern western values.

There were several interesting works at the exhibition, and it’s hard to pick out only one that really stood out from the crowd. One of the works I remember the best, however, is Zhang Ding’s “N Kilometers Towards the West”. The installation was built as a large sphere, covered with several speakers that pointed inwards into it. Each of the speakers were then connected to a portable CD-players that played sounds from various places recorded in a large Chinese city.

My first impression of the installation was purely based on the visual experience. As I entered the room with the sphere for the first time, I felt as if I had walked directly into another place, another time zone. The sphere itself was looked like a hi-tech, alien device that was set in the middle of a large, white room, and emitted a strange, almost scary energy.

After entering the room, I discovered that the sound experience changed as I walked around the sphere. Also, the longer I stayed there, I was able to separate the different sounds, which varied from sprinkling water to car traffic. The work changed as I walked around it, making the audience an integrated part of the installation.

The work was fun to experience, both audially and visually, but we have to see it in light of the rest of the exhibition. One could easily interpret the work as a comment on the explosive boost in Chinese economy and the growth of a new, Chinese consumer mentality. All these metropolitan noises – so many and so loud that they drown out eachother – coming out from the planet-shaped installation could be a comment to these changes in China, and the problems that can be associated with the situation of our planet. Many western politicians and intellectuals have expressed concerns regarding the situation in China, and the environmental hazard that can occur if the country’s enormous population achieved the same living standard as the west. The audience walks around this planet-like sphere, searching for a safe spot, only to discover that there is no way to escape completely from the noise.

Or, it could just have been a cool attempt to capture a large city into a small area.

There were also other installations that I can relate to my assignment, The Twilight Zone. The computer animated film “China Tracy” by Cao Fei portrayed the digital avatar of a young, Chinese woman in the social computer game “Second Life”, and her life in the game. The film dealt with people’s wishes to be someone else, and their need for self-realisation. There’s a twilight zone between the real life and the digital life, but what’s the real difference?

Another great piece was “Constellation No. 2″, by Chu Yun. The installation was put up in a dark room, and was, at first, completely shrouded by darkness, expect for many small lights. As the title indicates, the whole installation looked like a starry sky. After a while, however, I noticed that the constellation consisted actually of computers and electronic devices, which I later was told were old, discarded equipment that had been bought cheap.

The concept of standing comfortably in a dark place, looking up at a beautiful, starry sky, only to discover that you’re actually not looking at something esoteric and natural. You’re looking at human waste – old, outdated technology that most people would describe as garbage. This contrast has to be called a Twilight Zone.

Brainstorming #01

I have been thinking hard of what I’m going to do in this task, and also did some experimenting, but nothing solid has appeared so far. I have mostly been messing around in Flash, trying to implement a web camera and a microphone in order to something interactive. I’m trying to mix art, technology, sensory experiences and the notion about a “twilight zone”.

Interactive gallery
I have been thinking about doing some sort of interactive gallery. Maybe photographies companied by sounds, or sounds accompanied by pictures. This has to be done in a interesting and immersive way.

Sound collage
Maybe there’s a way to make a collage of sounds, picking them from a database and putting them up on a “wall”?

Animated collage
Make a database of animations, characters, etc. Let the “player” make a scene out of these. Add music, sounds, story. Maybe a bit too far-fetched for this task?

Interactive collage
An improvement on the previous idea. Use clips cut out from papers, etc., and put these up on a Flash wall. Save these, and browse through contributions made by others. Music. Use a microphone in some way. Yell in the mic to interact with the wall, bring up various pictures.

Interact by sounds
In some way, interact with Flash through the microphone.

Dreams – the Twilight Zone
To capture the feeling of having woken up from a bad dream, but not being able to get rid of the bad feeling, even though one knows that the dream wasn’t real. How could one accomplish this? Through video, photos? Or through something interactive? This idea is maybe the one that is most directly connected to the task, and could also be the one I should pursue. I’m still a bit intrigued by doing something in Flash with a mic, and maybe a web camera, though.

I have been somewhat inspired by the website Set Pixel. They have done some wicked stuff, mixing technology and art.

Emotional design

Short introduction

According to the author Donald Norman, good design can be developed by paying attention to which reactions the design evokes in the brain. Our brain works on three levels, namely the visceral (lower), the behavioral (middle) and the reflective (higher) levels, and good design should work on all of these.

So let’s pick three objects and see how these relate to Norman’s theories – a Firkløver chocolate bar, the Nintendo DS handheld console and the screwdriver.

The chocolate bar
The visceral design of the Firkløver is dominated by the blue, calming color of the wrapping, but also the picture of its contents, the chocolate bar. The wrapping contains drawings of five clovers, as well as a mountainrange, and gives the impression of a natural, delicious, and very tempting product. The first impression is, by far, a positive one. Most people will be able to understand what the wrapping contains and want to eat it.

The bar has recently gotten a new plastic wrapping instead of the more old-fashioned paper wrapping. Too bad, as the old wrapping gave a more authentic feel than the new. Also, fetching the bar out of the wrapping has now become more complicated, as Freia has chosen to feature an “operating manual” on the back. Apparently, this new wrapping ensures that the chocolate tastes more fresh.

To many, eating a chocolate bar is mainly a positive experience. Although afterwards, on a reflective level, many experience feelings of bad conscience, shame and even sickness. One might feel an immediate sense of satisfaction, although this is purely temporarily. Society has taught us that eating chocolate and candy is wrong, and a sign that you don’t care about your health or appearence. Chocolate is a modern day sin, and many wouldn’t be caught dead eating a chocolate bar in public. The reflective level of the Firkløver is, for the most part, a negative one.

The Nintendo DS (oldest version)
The first version of Nintendo’s popular handheld console had a typical “Nintendo-look”, although very retro. Many might even call it ugly, but you won’t hear that coming from a Nintendo fanboy. The console has two screens which can be clapped together, and the closed DS looks like a grey, plastic-ish, undefined thingamabob. The impression doesn’t necessarily get any better after opening it, noticing the old-fashioned buttons and button layout that could’ve belonged to a gaming console released in the eighties.

The true strenght of the DS, however, is not its looks (disregarding the DS lite which was released a few years later – a design masterpiece), but its functionality and fun-factor. Everyone who owns a DS already know this, and praises the console for its great games and innovative gameplay. In apperance, the console looks like just another handheld console, only with two screens, and in order to fully understand it you have to try it out for yourself. Perhaps the console’s greatest feature is the touch screen – the top screen being a standard screen, while the lower one being a touch screen. The sensation of being able to directly interact in the game by touching, pressing and drawing on the touch screen makes for a completely new and immersive gaming experience, leaving every other handheld console in the dust. Also, the DS features a microphone which some games requires the player to use in interesting ways.

Now, a few years after the DS’ release, the console is the most popular handheld on the market, and one of the most popular consoles in general. Especially in hardcore gaming circles, owning a DS could mean that you’re up-to-date in gaming, that gameplay magic is more important than the bells and whistles of other gaming consoles, and that you’re a youthful person.

The screwdriver
The visceral design of the typical screwdriver is not much to talk about. It consists of a handle and the metal part. Most people know what it’s for, have used one and is able to recognize it.

The behavioral design could vary, though, even in such a simple product. The comfort of the handle and the size, for instance. Also, some screwdrivers have a magnetic tip, making it more easy to collect the screws after unscrewing them.

As with the visceral design, the reflective design of a screwdriver is probably quite limited. Of course, using and owning a screwdriver does say something about a person. Maybe this person is an avid user of tools, a handyman that enjoys building his own stuff. It could portray a person that takes control of his own life, and participates in the world around him.