I started by researching the binary pairing of day/night. Researching led me to narrow down and look at day and night from a particular angle or perspective (e.g. time zones, mythology, psychology and more). I found interesting articles on sleep cycles and the body clock in relation to day and night. Then research was done into the effects of sleeping at night and sleeping during the day on a personâs health and personality. This led me to finding articles about how screen time (e.g. phones and computers) and technology (alarm clocks) can change a personâs sleeping patterns.
Screen exposure impacts sleep and the sleep cycle because it stimulates the mind when the mind is traditionally more relaxed at night time because there is less light. Screens can also interfere with a personâs sleep cycle by tricking them into thinking it is day and delaying sleep. The light prevents the brain from releasing a hormone called melatonin which tells the body it is night time and induces sleep. It is recommended a person doesnât use electronic devices an hour before bed.
The first experiments were with small wooden cubes purchased from the crafting store. I played around with positioning, towering and experimenting with ideas using them. Using a font based off the digital font of an alarm clock (âAlarm Clockâ by David J Patterson from dafont.com), I wrote the letters of 'day:â and 'night:â onto the wooden cubes. This references an alarm clock in a parody form as instead of numbers representing time, it just say vaguely âdayâ and ânightâ. Also it is written and the letters have imperfections because of this, going against the uniform digital style of numbers on an alarm clock. Additionally it is written on wood, a natural material, which references a natural, non-electronic approach. I decided to use the âdayâ and ânightâ wood blocks done in this experiment as it compares looking at a screen to an alarm clock (both which interrupt natural sleep).
I decided the core idea of the project would surround how looking at screens affects the sleep cycle and the body clockâs determination of day and night. This is conveyed through a model of a TV with 2 channels ('dayâ and 'nightâ) and there could be a remote, detachable from the work, with the buttons 'dayâ and 'nightâ, to show that the user can control what is on the television. Next to the remote I could have a TV guide listing 2 channels - day and night The channel 'dayâ is when the TV is on and maybe I can have an image of the sky to represent this time. The channel 'nightâ is when the TV is turned off, representing that the TV is not on and isnât emitting light confusing the body that its daytime.
Pieces of wood were cut to represent the TV screen, the remote and the TV guide. A piece of black paper was put over the a rectangular woodblock representing the TV. Â The black backdrop represents the link between when the TV is turned off and night time. I used printed pictures I took during daytime (where I cropped the sky). I moved around the pieces I cut from the sky pictures until I found a layout which was interesting. At first all the pieces were on the top half of the screen but it looked better when it was spread out so pictures of the sky looked like square holes in a screen which allow you to see through to the sky behind it. This represents how much TV can affect our perception of reality.
I cut a piece of acetate to cover the mosaic design to make it look shiny and more like a TV screen. However, I noticed that if I wanted to glue down the edges of the acetate I would need wooden pieces covering the edges so that the glue isnât visible. I cut, sanded and attached 4 wooden pieces to the edges of the rectangular acetate. I decided to only glue the top edge of the acetate (with the wood attached) to the mosaic design. This way, it can be lifted up (like in pictures above). This removal of the reflective surface lets the piece be interactive and symbolises how the digital screen can be mistaken for reality.
Next, I made the remote. I did this by cutting the three wooden pieces, cutting a square piece of black paper to represent night, and a square piece from the pictures of the sky I printed in the earlier experiment for the mosaic. I wanted to make something that represents a remote with two buttons.
I bought an A2 foam core and from this I cut approximately a 25cm2 shape from it. I had to recut the foam core a few times to get smooth edges.
After cutting the foam core I experimented with how I wanted to lay out the final design. Underneath the TV symbol it represents a clapperboard (the sign that is used when âactionâ or âcutâ is called in films which is symbolic for the binary transition between day and night and also links to the TV symbol.
I want to make the remote piece detachable from the work so that work can be interactive. The viewer can take it out, detaching it from the rest of the work and put it back in. The ability to take the remote out represents how a person is now able to use technology now to be somewhat in control of their sleep cycle and what time of day they interpret it to be.
After testing Velcro as a possible way to detach the remote, I found it was too strong and could potentially lead to ripping off the foam core beneath the Velcro if puled too hard. Â I experimented with wire to make a hinge which I attached to the back of a wooden block which will be the remote piece. I glued the wire and placed a piece of black fabric over the top so I was able to press the wire down so it could glue properly. I made the opposite side of the hinge (which the wire hinge goes through to attach to the rest of the work) out of foam core which I attached to the black foam core display board. This was successful and the remote piece can easily slide onto the display or detach itself using this hinge joint which is on the board and back of the remote.
To enable the buttons on the remote to be pressed down so it is more representative of a real remote, ideas such as folding paper to put underneath or placing an existing button underneath, were considered. Instead I decided to use sponge to create this effect that lets the button to be pushed down. If I used sponge on its own, it would be too noticeable since it was bright yellow. I cut 2 small pieces of sponge and wrapped each one in a small square piece of purple felt and taped each of these pieces so they would not fall apart. Then I attached the wooden button representing ânightâ and âdayâ over the top.
The work reflects the ability of a screen to stimulate the mind and confuse perceptions of day and night. The ability to lift the acetate over the TV screen represents affect of the digital medium on a personâs perception of reality. The ability to remove the remote represents that a person is somewhat in control of his own sleep cycle through their control over their choices to use or not use digital devices. The TV guide on the sign saying âdayâ and ânightâ and an alarm clock font symbolises comparisons between digital screens and alarm clocks in interrupting or changing a personâs natural sleep cycle. It also simplifies time to âdayâ and ânightâ, through linking it to the binary of being âawakeâ and âasleepâ. The work looks at a personâs choices in relation to technology usage and how these may affect their sleep cycle.
