Updates
The central concept now is based around story-telling, nostalgia and vulnerability. The goal is to start conversations about people that we miss. Through this using the spaces as an emotional cue to reflect.
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”-Brene Brown
To do this we plan to collect stories and illustrations. Not only from the anonymous public but from ourselves and our peers as well. The idea is to think of someone you miss and draw out a space/ floor plan to represent the space that person existed in.
We propose to do this through the distribution and collection of postcards. These postcards will provide a curated data response. Due to challenges from our previous project we established a system to collect raw data that would be more useful for us to interpret and share.
For this first data collection, we wanted to restrict the type of response we received so as to streamline the creation process. By using the nets and limited lines for writing, this formally restricted people into only including the essentials. We then went on to hand out and collect postcards from Uni peers, Friends, Parents, Lecturers etc. The more diverse stories the better.
Using Fusion 360 we modeled the current rooms based off the floor plans into models. From here we exported the outlines of the room as a North East isometric view PDF. This was then converted into illustrator and coloured using our scheme of purple and orange. Fusion 360 also allowed us to create the nets for the laser cutter to make the physical models. In partnership with the laser labs technician we were able to adjust the Kerf/ tolerance of the laser. This eliminated the use for glue and proceedingly provides a more efficient construction.
Ordering NFC tags and sensors our plan is to create a screen based interactive story sharing experience.
Our plan is to create physical models of the collected rooms and use them as a direct feedback to the user. With this in mind our goal is to collect, model and transcribe at least 50 stories. From here using the sensors, and playing around with the idea of an immediate responsive installation.
Though plans may change, our main goal is to collect and share stories about the people we miss and the spaces they existed in.
Possible Directions
As for the direction we want to go in with this data, we have discussed creating a public interactive installation. This is inspired by Joseph Michael’s Auckland Live brief and will involve one of the screens in either the engineering building or Aotea Square. The installation will utilise tactile interaction (with the models) and a reactive screen-based aspect.
The rooms will be distributed around the public area and people are encouraged to bring the models up to a platform in front of the screen. When placed on the platform, the corresponding model will show up on the screen and be able to be interacted with. This, we believe, will be an effective method of sharing the stories we collect and provoking thought about the people we miss.
We believe this tactile approach will be advantageous as we noted that all of our past testers immediately wanted to play with and take apart the models. Hence, the tactile response is important to the interaction.
For this interaction, we are prototyping NFC tag reading to distinguish the different rooms- linking the stories with the models.
Feedback plan
As our narrative is a universal one; the feelings surrounding loss and nostalgia, our audience is the general public. We also want to explore the vulnerability brought about by sharing an intimate story anonymously.
In our testing, we will endeavour to keep that anonymity for our testers.
A diverse audience is our main goal. Everyone we believe has a story and misses someone or a space. In this case for us, it means that our general audience is anyone; anyone seeking vulnerability and connection.
We propose to continue collecting qualitative data from people, through the use of postcards to anonymously collect curated responses. Note that our qualitative data means we are collecting stories in the form of not only words but also illustration.
This includes testing of the layout of the postcards, the nets and how effective this is for us when interpreting them into 3D models. We will also be testing the responses themselves, any noticeable trends/outliers. Testing how people remember spaces will help further our discovery of connection.
We decided on this format because the subjectiveness of this topic. Everyone has their own stories and we hope to evoke a personal response that is free from quantitative restraints.
We will also be testing the output method with some of the people who have submitted stories. This is to ensure that they are comfortable with our interpretation of their drawings and stories in the installation itself. We believe this sort of feedback is important for such a personal topic as we need to respect the vulnerability of those submitting their stories and it will help to make our piece more collaborative.
This raw story data will be directly used as our main artifact. We are collecting stories of people’s memories of other people and spaces. Directly interpreting the feedback responses to represent our greater narrative.
References
Tracey Emin (2014) City Art Sydney: The Distance of Your Heart
http://www.cityartsydney.com.au/artwork/the-distance-of-your-heart
Jacqueline Hagan, Karl Eschbach, Nestor Rodriguez (2008) Center for Migration Studies of New York: U.S. Deportation Policy, Family Separation, and Circular Migration
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00114.x
Michael G. MacLean, Lara E. Embry, Ana Mari Cauce (1999) JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: HOMELESS ADOLESCENTS’ PATHS TO SEPARATION FROM FAMILY COMPARISON OF FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS, PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT, AND VICTIMISATION
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/%28SICI%291520-6629%28199903%2927%3A2%3C179%3A%3AAID-JCOP5%3E3.0.CO%3B2-S
Olivia Hobman (October, 2017) Auckland Live: Pastel City https://vimeo.com/245585937
Strange Planet (@nathanwpylestrangeplanet) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.instagram.com/p/BuoeuYcgrXA/
Jay Roach (2010) Dinner for Schmucks
Art gallery exhibition : From pillars to posts, Project another country
Eden Pilbrow (2018) Silo https://eden-rosebct.tumblr.com/post/174988847117/final-moments
Eden Pilbrow (2018) aRcde https://eden-rosebct.tumblr.com/post/179501828607/final-result
https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/making-boxes-with-fusion-360-for-laser-cutting-tutorial.html