ABSENCE OF ORIGINALSTHE IMPERMANENCE OF ARTIFACTS ON MEMORY

[bits]Interactive Ecologies

RMITIndustrial Design . Pre-Major Project 7

2011

BENJAMIN CREEK

s3083541

THE PROJECT 2 ABSTRACT 3

CONTEXT 4

FIELD OF STUDY 5

PAST INVESTIGATION 6

INFLUENCES, PRECEDENTS & FUTURE RESEARCH 7

PROPOSED OUTCOME 9

INTERACTION DIAGRAM 10

SKILLS / TIMELINE 11

BIBLIOGRAPHY 12

CONTENTS

This project investigates the relationship between physical spaces/objects and the construction of memory, specifically focusing on how our ever increasingly impermanent environment impacts on our perception.

THE PROJECT

We automatically find ourselves personally attached to the objects and spaces that surround us. It is no surprise then that most people are reluctant to distance themselves from these objects and sites. Our memories are in many ways contingent upon our relationships to these geographic sites and physical objects, so it is only natural that we become personally attached to artifacts and places. With the ever-accelerating advance of technology our physical environment is increasingly one of impermanence. The expanding virtual layer of out our daily lives is replacing what we once conceived as fixed material with fluid and unanchored exchanges. This dematerialization can leave us detached from our surroundings and distanced from our histories.

How then do we maintain such relationships with the absence of the artifacts at its origins?

How can we continue to achieve similar multimodal stimulation, so vital to sparking memory?

How can we continue to create personal bonds to our physical environment?

How will our relations with our physical environment be effected by this changing circumstance?

What will substitute the role of the artifact in nurturing these relationships?

ABSTRACT

AGED CARE ACCOMODATION

This project will look at aged care institutions where people have come from established memory-invested physical environments and now find themselves in foreign impersonal and institutional space. How do these people find expression of their personal past within such sterile and physically unalterable spaces? How could digital features be incorporated into such environments to help aid the occupant’s transition and help maintain their confidence and fluidly in their memory and sense of self?

RENTAL HOMES

The second area of investigation will be rented housing where occupants are neither allowed to physically manipulate the space nor occupy the space long enough to invest the space with memory stimuli. How could people create relation-based systems that connect personal data stimuli to their special environments in semi permanent and location adaptable ways?

CONTEXT

PAST INVESTIGATION

INTERACTIVE WALLPAPER

I undertook a project in 2010 as part of the Touch Points upper-pool studio which aimed to examine notions of the home and how an alternative interface could be utilized to enrich the lives of a house’s inhabitants. The concept developed using projected imagery and touch surface technology to create a system which allows users to explore media in a more abstract way using an arguably more intuitive method than those accommodated by current household computers.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY, OR HOW FEATURES WITHIN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AFFECT OUR PERCEPTION OF SPACE.

Within the research methods course of 2010 I started an investigation into ways in which elements of the built environment affect an occupant’s behavior and their perception of that space. Specifically engaging visual and multimodal interactive systems, such as projection and interface design, this project combined light animated projection and structural elements to explore how the experience of space can be amplified and an occupant’s behavior can be affected.

FIELD OF STUDY

INFLUENCES, PRECEDENTS BIBLIOGRAPHY & FUTURE RESEARCH

GASTON BACHELARDTHE POETICS OF SPACE

Bachelard’s methods of bringing phenomenology to architecture and his analysis not on purported origins but on lived experience of architecture and on the experiences spaces will engender.

JEAN BAUDRILLARDHYPER-REALITY

Baudrillard’s theories on the collapsed division between the real and the simulated and further reading into the postmodern philosophy built upon his work to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy.

SLAVOJ ZIZEKINTERSTITIAL SPACE & ARCHITECTURAL PARALLAX

Zizek’s ideas on the importance of architectural motifs, intervening and “leftover” spaces.

GUY DEBORDTHE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE

Debord’s theories on the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation and his idea that was once directly lived has become mere representation.

RICHARD CáNDIDA SMITHART AND THE PERFORMANCE OF MEMORY: SOUNDS AND GESTURES OF RECOLLECTION

Smith’s investigation into the role that visual and performing arts play in our experience and understanding of memory and the past.

BERT BONGERSINTERACTIVE READING TABLE

Reading Table uses physical objects that people interact with to generate particular new media content such as videos, sounds and web sites. It combines the tangibility and clarity of printed media such as books, papers and articles with the malleability and flexibility of new media. The aim is to create an integrated experience for the users, bringing together traditional media (such as books) with new media (such as video). The table uses RFID technology to link the physical objects to the media content.

IAN DE GRUCHYPROJECTION ENVIRONMENTS

Looking at the work and visual techniques used by prominent Melbourne projection artist Ian de Gruchy and exploring ways in which the techniques he practices could be utilized in an interactive environment.

JURGEN BEYINTERACTIVE AND INTERIOR INSTALLATIONS

Taking inspiration from the industrial design and artistic work of Bey and his philosophy in considering urban and architectural construction as indissolubly linked to the design of products.

MARCO FUSINATOART INSTALLATIONS

Looking at the work of Fusinato and in particular his installation Aetheric Plexus in which he explores notions of the spectacle, interaction and impermanence.

INTERACTIVE ART / DESIGN & PROTOTYPING

A broad investigation into the emerging fields of interactive art and design, looking specifically at the opportunities opened by the developments in Arduino products and Processing software.

PROPOSED OUTCOME

The creation of an interactive system based in the physical environment exploring notions related to memory and space. This system will utilize visual projection as the main feedback modality and will incorporate gesture-based interaction using Arduino and Processing hardware/software to facilitate a live interaction simulation.

PROPOSED OUTCOME INTERACTION DIAGRAM

SKILLS / TIMELINE

PROPOSED SKILLS

Research accumulation and management skills

Developing, conceptualizing and communicating my own intellectual positions

Interactive Prototyping skills – Arduino, Processing software/hardware

Testing methods - cultural probes, user questioners, observation

PROJECT TIMELINE

April Intellectual field research

May User research – cultural probes, observation, interviewing

June/July Physical installation based simulations and experiments Arduino and Processing software exploration

August Final outcome concept

September Final outcome prototype Final outcome testing Final outcome production

October Findings Report