BROCKWELL PARK COMMUNITY GREENHOUSES
(Communication)
A collaboration with Celia Willis
We looked at the communication patterns and habits of the members of Brockwell Community Greenhouses for this project.
Based on our research we came up with a number of ideas for new ways to communicate within the garden.
These can be seen in the stop frame animation movie.
We picked one of these ideas to realise and created a birdhouse to be positioned in a tree. The house is linked to a microphone on the ground through which people can leave messages and get things off their mind.
The house then translates the message (by way of a max msp application we created which rearranges pitch and speed and applies a birdsong-like pattern) and replays it across the garden in which it resides.
The Birdbox Message Translator
Movie coming soon
PROTECT AND SURVIVE
(Nanotechnology)
Alongside the advent of new technologies comes the hopes and fears of its supporters, creators and sceptics. These feelings are pushed forward and reach the receiving public in waves of promises and warnings.
Promises such as 'we will no longer need to work' and 'poverty will be eradicated' have resounded since the invention of electricity.
The public is often left confused, feeling powerless and unsure of what to believe about these new technologies and can only hopefully trust that their Government will do the right thing on their behalf.
But do they ever and realistically, can they?
These same promises now surround Nanotechnology and it is from looking at and comparing the path of the introduction of past new technologies, and the aftermath, that this project arises.
WAKE ME A THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW...
A collaboration with Celia Willis
(exhibited at the 'Work in Progress'show at the RCA, Jan '07)
Wake me a thousand years from now was an online project offering visitors to the Design Interactions interim show an opportunity to ask questions about the future and to contemplate the limitless number of issues that surround new technologies.
These questions were directed out to a panel of experts who ranged from many diverse fields - from space tourism to religion. Questions were also open to comments from other visitors and we encouraged all responses to end with new questions.
Our aim was to create a platform upon which informative dialogue could grow and lively debates ensue.
The project was presented in a study area where inspirational information could be found on the nature of questioning, on new technologies and ideas such as those that have been addressed in other projects in
the interim show.
We hoped to encourage visitors into the mindset that forms the foundation of much of the work done on our
Design Interactions course.
NIGHT FEAR PLACEBO
(design a placebo for a phobia..)
Taking noctiphobia to design for, I experimented with recreating dawn as dusk fell by filming and reprojecting, with the idea that it could be developed into a service.
“With dawn comes the relief that the night is over”
I made the film of dawn rising and dusk falling and created a programme, which allowed the viewer to jump back 5 or 10 seconds through the film by pressing on a red emergency button so that they could prolong the dawn rising until they had fallen asleep or the real dawn took over.
To illustrate this I borrowed from Gregory Crewdson.
This was a project full of little experiments and illustrations.
