This project was inspired by
the Infinity room exhibit by Yayoi Kusama. The exhibit in its current form is made up of
six square plane mirrors that are stuck together with a combination of hot
glue and masking tape. Each plane mirror has a red, green and yellow LED wired
in series with a resistance to limit the voltage. One corner of the cube has
been cut off to allow the participant to peer in and flip the switch to turn
the LEDs on. Earlier all 18 lights were wired to light up when the exhibit was
turned on, however I noticed that it was far too bright and decided only 3 lights
were sufficient.
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| The cube in all its painters tape glory |
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| Learning to use LEDs |
The ideal interaction in this
version of the prototype is to lift the box up when the lights are off and then
to switch the lights to see the infinite effect. I noticed people smiled or
were rapt when they switched the lights on. A lot of my friends wanted to take
pictures of the effect with their phones. I am fascinated by infinity and would
like to showcase its wonder in a memorable way. Many people mentioned it looked like a never ending christmas.
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| Lights On |
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| Lights Off |
The first step to improving
this exhibit is improving the craft of the finished cube. I learnt that fixing
the sides together with glue is very messy and tarnishes the final effect. I
would like to cut the plane mirrors in a way that allows the pieces to fit
together without glue.
This exhibit is very limited
by its small size. I would really like to recreate the box in a human scale,
where a person can walk into the room and control the lights by stepping on
different panels.
I feel this exhibit lacks the
interactive and social elements that make exhibits successful. The user does
nothing except peer in after switching the lights on. John noticed a very neat
effect when he pushed on the walls of the box. The infinite rows of light had a
pulsing motion that looked very cool. I would like to add a level of
interactivity by making the lights on the different sides switch on and off
depending on certain actions by the user. Kind of creating an infinite disco of
sorts.
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| Hot glue and Painters Tape |
I really enjoyed the interactive nature of many of the exhibits in the class. Clementine's glasses were particularly fun to play with and and walk around. Emily's try it yourself idea was also something that I enjoyed.amazing and am curious about designing an exhibit around that. Some of the other
This weekend I was up in Lake Tahoe and noticed how light reflected in the water. I think this is really amazing and am curious about designing an exhibit around that. Some of the other things that come to mind is the effect achieved in Coldplay's Myloto Xyloto tour when they handed out light wristbands in the audience, making them part of the spectacle.
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| Water |
I really would like to try and create an Infinity room kind of immersive exhibit where the participants are truly interacting with the environment.
I really like the infinity room and it was a great reminder for me to visit Yayoi Kusama's 'Mirrored Room' when I go to NYC this summer. One subtle thing I liked about the miniature version where you stick you eyes in is that you're still in an immersive environment, since its all your eyes can see, but the fact that the viewer isn't reflected him or herself allows the viewer to really focus on the atmosphere rather than become preoccupied taking 'selfies'
ReplyDeleteWhile I could see how an interactive large scale room would be really fun to play with, I also really agree with Emily about liking the immersive experience of your smaller model.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really nice picture of water ripples! I'm also fascinated with water caustics, and would love to see an exhibit about it. (I actually made mathematical models of simulating water ripple refraction/reflection as my computer graphics final project last quarter. If you'd like some extra reference material for planning a caustics exhibit, I could send you some files!)
I've noticed that same effect at Tahoe! I once tried throwing chunks of ice into the water to see how it changed the ripples-- since the water and ice are similarly clear, it almost looks like the ripples are coming out of nowhere.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the idea of a participatory exhibit. It could be cool to have some people on the outside playing with the light configurations, which would facilitate the experience for other users on the inside, and also encourage an interesting kind of cooperation between visitors.
I love how immersed I felt looking to the cube, but I think the experience could be improved by adding an aspect that makes me a little more curious about how the mirrors work. I think this could be achieved by the sort of interactive element that others have suggested. I think being able to turn off the lights on certain sides and see how that affected what you were seeing would augment the ability of the exhibit to spark a curiosity and build a learning experience rather than just be something really awesome to look at.
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