The sensors multiply

Following our last presentation, I continued to develop use of the pressure sensors created with conductive foam as an input and worked on making Arduino and Processing read and respond to a circuit built with multiple pressure sensors. Previously I had used a single pressure sensor in the bottom of my mock suitcase to manipulate output in the form of a graphical output on the screen and made a series of LEDs light up.

Using multiple sensors opens the potential to creating and programming a variety of relationships between the different inputs and how they are interpreted and used to manipulate the output. So as a simple experiment, I took the same images I had used to represent various 'pressures' (money, social, food, work, traffic, love) and assigned each to a sensor. The level of pressure determined the opacity of the image with increased pressure increasing the opacity. The total level of pressure from all the sensors would change the colour on the blank face in the centre, bringing in my earlier experiments with colour representative of pressure level.

This is still quite a literal representation of 'pressures' but was mostly to experiment with trying to get the sensors interacting to some extent. It was partially influenced by the Kronos Projector and this sketch in particular.

This led me to think instead of representing the effects of stress / pressure in the form of a timelapse. I like the effect the 'time warping' sketch had where the time lapse photographs of the city overlaid and then where ever the image is clicked, creates a 'time punch'.

After discussing these ideas further with Sebastian and Jason, we came to the idea of taking this same concept of taking a time lapse and using the pressure sensor to control it. For example, taking a time lapse of the motorway filling up with cars as it becomes rush hour and then making the timelapse go forward with more pressure and backwards.

This relates to the idea that each individual doesn't feel like their actions contribute to the whole (e.g. one person doesn't create a traffic jam) but by seeing and controlling the build up of the collective makes one consider these consequences more. This can be linked to many ideas I've already been exploring around pressure and stress, where before I exploring effects of collective pressure on the individual, this turns it around to the effect collective pressure as a result of many 'individuals.'

At this point, I experimented with two simple time lapses, one consisting of 14 frames created in Photoshop and then another consisting of 108 frames from a series of photographs. The value recieved from the pressure sensor is converted to fit within a scale of 0-108 (or number of frames) so when the pressure increases, the later frames featuring more traffic (or in this case, a collection of pompoms). The following video shows the timelapse from beginning to end.

The next step now that I know I am able to actually program this is to create more time lapse sequences and start to explore and relationships between them. It is also now important to start making decision regarding how the input and output will be set up and exhibited as these will ultimately impact on and be impacted by how I go about the next step and what the overall effect will be on the viewer.

Architectural Perspective

After last presenting our projects, Sebastian took us to see some third year architecture students having a critique. This was relevant because the starting point for their brief was also a suitcase; they were trying to create 'different environments' or something that 'popped out ' and could be stored inside the suitcase.

Our brief is similarily open with whatever we create needing to be able to fit inside the suitcase and our suggested starting point for our concept being 'modern life'. Even though the briefs were similar, the different backgrounds of architecture versus creative technologies were evident in what they had produced.

It seems fairly obvious to state but their products were more focused on how it was constructed and what sort of 'space' it was creating. A few of the ones we saw were a work space on the go which isolated the user, a fold up changing room, a tensegrity unit, an 'impossible structure' and a metal mesh structure. The one I liked most was a croched hammock / net structure made from 1.5km of twine(?) made to be hung from a tree or other structure to be sat inside. The idea that came through was a way to think differently about how we use outdoor spaces.

Even though these projects too were just halfway through (to be completed by end of semester), it was a useful experience seeing their work and hearing how the lecturers responded to it and what feedback they gave. It was and interesting insight as one of my options for university, had I not chosen Creative Technologies, would have been architecture. Creative Technologies itself is supposed to be a multidisciplinary and so taking influence from other practices can only help drive our work.

Discussing with Sebastian after, we agreed the most interesting structures were those that contained lots of multiples of individual pieces to make a whole. Structurally and visually it was just a more interesting piece. What I found different in their approach to the brief was that their focus was on the practical use of the space and it's intended use where our projects (or I aim for mine) have more of a conceptual grounding, in this case, modern life. Some conceptual meaning could be read into their works but I am not sure whether it was intentional and in the series of only short 5 minute crits, perhaps there just wasn't time to discuss it.

Seeing their critique has encouraged me to think more about the space and the environment I will be creating when viewers see my project. It is easy to get carried away with the concept, the programming, the visual aesthetics, but it is important to think about what effect these all will have in combination for the viewer as ultimately, they are the ones who are going to be experiencing it.

Input and Output

In order to develop my project and start to steer it down a more specific path, I began by refining my concept down to a core idea from the many we had discussed and the one's I'd explored so far. From my last idea, I begun to explore modern life and following the presentation of this concept, the idea of tension came out. I chose to take this as my core concept and continued to develop my project from here.

THE CONCEPTS

Contemporary Life - Tension, pressure, stress

The suitcase is a symbol of modern life;
it is an empty vessel to be filled and to be transported;
it is designed to be portable and manoeuvrable.

We move and travel more and further;
Does our baggage sustains us in our travels
or weight us down?

Travel is connotative with a holiday, an escape,
but do we really escape what we pack within ourselves?

We carry our baggage, both physical and figurative,
It is lightweight enough to transport but it wears us down.

I am in exploring ideas of metaphysical and physical baggage and their link to aspects of contemporary life;
Ubiquitous components of society driven by
tension, pressure and stress;
things which can sustain us or break us down.

This suitcase as a banal, mass produced object will always contain something unique to each individual.

First Concepts

Inputs (Click for more detail)

Outputs (Click for more detail)

Conveyor belt

In preparation for our final meeting before study break, I worked to develop my idea as I felt I needed to refocus so I went back to looking at the suitcase itself.

It is an object whose form is determined by it's function, it differs from say a backpack because it is designed in such a way that it implies a need for greater room and hence indicating a longer distance of travel.

I thought also about what Charles has been saying about contemporary life and how we travel and move around a lot more. Suitcases have been adapted and developed over time as we have been more mobile as there has been a need for them for be lightweight, portable and maneuverable over long distances.

Then I thought about the baggage claim at the airport where the suitcases come around on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt too is a characteristic of the modern life; the machine which has been developed to cope with the need for mass organization and mass production. These too were developed in airports to cope with and organize more people traveling but also in other areas of life such as mass production and consumption - for example productions lines and supermarket check outs.

Then of course there is the idea of mass organization of people which has been achieved through passports and RFID tags.

I discussed my ideas with various people and someone suggested it would be quite visually striking to have a suitcase sitting on a conveyor belt in the gallery space with the belt moving in one direction and the wheels of the suitcase hooked up to a motor to turn them in the opposite direction, hence giving it appearance of being both moving and stationary.
This highlights ideas of the paradox of contemporary life which is rich with movement and yet the constant feeling that we are never moving far or fast enough. If you put a person on a conveyor belt, as like a treadmill, we run and run and exert energy but seem to remain in the same place.

Sharing these ideas with the group, Jason suggested trying to represent this idea of tension as a way of tapping more into the metaphysical and moving past the more literal representations of a concept.

The issue still arises of how to make it interactive which is where perhaps RFID tags can be employed to be handled by the user and trigger a reader inside the suitcase and set off something, perhaps, as previously explored, a projection.

Difficulties at this point are the the logistics of building a conveyor belt which could both support the size of the suitcase and be able to fit inside the suitcase. I found an article on Makezine outlining how to build a small conveyor belt which I was going to try recreate as a prototype to work from but already I could see that it would be difficult to employ on a large scale.

Options to explore at this point are to focus in on what exactly it is I am trying to show or convey and then how I can feasibly apply it practically within a reasonable time frame and budget. I felt I learned from the first project of this year that it is good to start big and then perhaps scale it down; it is easier to scale something down than up. Once I have clarified my concept and intentions, begin to try represent it. I really want to start building and making something now, to start bringing my ideas to life...