Childhood and infancy is a crucial time in the development of a person’s character. The influences and external factors that affect a child’s upbringing are vast but our main sources of understanding the world and ourselves are from our parents.
Our piece expresses the influence that two parents inevitably have on a child’s upbringing. Before any user interaction, the ceiling flashes rapidly, trying to pine for attention. Once there are participants, the users use the two computers to create different drawings using different elements, to reflect unique parenting styles and attitudes. While being drawn, the two respective sketches are shown on the outside of the installation arch, but also combined into a unique projection within the interior ceiling. In this third, interior sketch, it is then original, as it combines two separate sketches into one. This third sketch demonstrates that both influences have a significant impact on the child as reflected by the similarity in shapes and patterns drawn, yet the child is still a unique being as there are key differences such as colour, line, and opacity. These differences reflect that the child has its own characteristics, yet still derives it’s roots from the parents.
The physical installation itself was created to enhance the user experience. The flashing screen and the illuminated blue shapes were designed to interest viewers and encourage interaction. By having two users interact by drawing and seeing their creation projected onto the outside of a surface with illuminated blue triangles, it becomes more interesting than a flat surface or plain computer screen. Once the user walks through the arch, they will see the ceiling projection and recognize that it is partly influenced by what they created prior to walking through it.
Connection to Class Material:
This piece is generative as the sketches produce generative designs through the code. In the first computer, the user has control over the direction and shape of the drawing, but the colours are randomized. The code mirrors the lines so that it generates a more intricate sketch. In the second computer, the user also gains control over the placement and opacity of the brush, however the size of the circles generated will tend to vary. This gives the sketch a level of autonomy that was initiated by the user but continued through the code itself. The code allows the work to seem autonomous and intelligent to a degree beyond the sole user interaction.
This piece is a networked experience because it uses three computers that are connected through the wireless local area network to link up the parents to the third computer. By using a network, this further demonstrates the idea that parents have a significant connection to their child. It also poses the question of whether that connection is strong and/or important for the child’s upbringing; would this project be as successful or would the message be clear without having connected the computers?
The computers are connected through the internet, using our IP addresses. The third sketch has a timer set to to 7 minutes. Without any user interaction, the screen flashes different shades of grey. After these 7 minutes, the sketch refreshes and a blank background is set. The two parent sketches have unique elements that make them different to each other. One is line based, and the other is ellipse based. The third processing sketch takes both these elements and combines them into one.
To build the physical installation, we put together a wooden frame with triangular support on each end, covered the outside with the foam board constructed into octagons and filled the gaps with blue tissue paper. The abstract and jagged shape of the exterior was designed to allow the projection to be more dynamic and engaging. By having odd shapes and angles, the projection from the ceiling was able to bleed into the side projections, to support our idea of parent to child influence. The tissue paper was added to create a three dimensional feel for the structure, and it allowed the light from within the structure to project outwards, this gave the structure a nice gradient from blue to yellow. The arch was created using thick bendable wires with a shape similar to a bolt screw, using the bolt and nut concept we then attached each end of the wire to the sides of the wooden frame. This allowed us to easily remove and attach the arch whenever necessary. White fabric was then wrapped and draped across the arch. We outlined the interior with white fabric to create a softer mood than the exterior and allowed the ceiling material to be sheer so that the projection could be shown through the fabric, allowing for an illuminated ceiling as the audience walks through the arch.
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