Yang Gao – IMA Documentation

May 21, 2019

Kinetic Light – Project 3: Floral Clock🌸 – Yang Gao

TITLE

Floral Clock🌸

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Floral clock is an installation that mimics the flower blossom. There’re twelve different kinds of flowers, each of them represent a natural flower. They form as a clock and open at twelve different times. The clock is based on Linnaeus’s flower clock: the flowers open and close at particular times of the day to accurately indicate the time.

When I saw a time-lapse of flower opening video for the first time, I was deeply impressed and considering to make it real. I first tried with coding for my Nature of Code class and turned out as I expected. Then I thought about making it physical.

PERSPECTIVE AND CONTEXT

In The Century of Kinesthesia, Guy Brett mentions that Calder once states that:

From the beginning of my abstract work, even when it might not have seemed so, I felt there was no better model for me to choose than the universe … spheres of different sizes, densities, colours and volumes, floating in space, traversing clouds, sprays of water, currents of air, vicosities and odours – of the greatest variety and disparity.”

The universe and nature help art come into being.

I’m also impressed by Shylight created by Studio Drift and how they achieved mimicking the flower blossom, which introduces the audience to a new world with nature and technology.

Several projects from U-Ram Choe also created and displayed his work with the aesthetic choices to show nature forces, which also inspired me of making the flowers.

DEVELOPMENT & TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

1. Outside Petal:

I first tested with different materials, patterns and sizes.

Patterns (from the most flexible to the least flexible):

1
2
3
4
5
6

Materials:

I tried with 3 cm Wood, 2 cm Wood, 1.5 cm Wood, 1 cm Wood, and 3 cm Acrylic. To make sure that the petal is both supportable and not fragile, I chose the 1.5 cm Wood in the end.

Size:

I printed the pental in 10 cm length, 15 cm length, 20 cm length, and 25 cm length. To make sure that the petal has the best shape(not curl if I place it vertically), I chose the 20 cm length in the end.

2. Motor Box

I made a motor box to hide the motor. Since the range of the petals’ movement is quite big, so in the end, the motor box is 10 cm * 10 cm * 20 cm so that it can contain the motor and the horns.

3. Flower

Material

I tried 3 different fabric: silk-like fabric, organza, hard organza.

Because I want the petals to have the ability to go back to the original position, so the more shapable the fabric can be, the better.

From left to Right: silk-like fabric👎 – organza – hard organza👍

Shapes

To mimic the real flower shape, I studied different petals-making ways.

12 Flowers

4. Build Everything together

1⃣Stick the outside petals on the motor box.

2⃣Attach the thread to the outside petals.

3⃣Put the neon pixel under the first layer of the flower.

4⃣Attach the thread to the flowers’ outside petals.

5⃣Put the flowers on the wood petals.

6⃣Put all the thread into a straw that is in the middle of the flower(low friction).

7⃣Stick the motor to the motor box.

8⃣Tie all the thread on the motor horns.

9⃣Close the box.

🔟Program the motor and light.

My original idea is that the project is hanging on the wall and user can view it as a clock(or on the ceiling face the bottom), but I also find another way to view it by chance. I can place the flower on the ground and face top, so it invites people to come closer and it also conforms to the natural rule. However, I did not find a good way to hide the wire if I put it on the ground, (use a big piece of wood might help but it might also prevent the user to step on it). So in the end, I chose to put them on a whiteboard and put the board against the wall.

Code

PRESENTATION

Presentation/IMA Show: The audience understands the project as a flower blossom, but since I did not finish all the 12 flowers (takes around 12 hours to finish one), it did not like a clock that much. And since I do not have time before the IMA Show to finish it, the flower can open and close but not open and close according to the time.

But they did react as I expected when I show one flower blossom, which is the same as I watched the time-lapse video.

Present Way: I feel like putting all the flower on the same big board might end up minus the effect on each flower. this problem might be solved if I can have 12 flowers shown and let them open one by one according to the time.

The wood pental: might be introduced in a better way. I do like the fact that they make the flower blossom more obvious, maybe painting in them in different colors that are consistent with the flowers?

Light: The light will be more obvious in the total dark place. My original idea is that the light will light up after sunset. I think I still need a better way to present the light during the day time.

CONCLUSION

I did not finish my project completely as I planned, but I learned so so much from this project. Needless to say that the mechanism behind a moving object was so fun to explore and making flowers was like art therapy.

From making mistakes this time, I also learned:

1⃣ALWAYS HAVE PLAN Bs FOR EVERYTHING

Even though I had plan B on many steps during making the flower, such as using alternative material to do the petals, but I did not have a plan B for the final result, which ended up that people did not see my whole project in the end and did not know how it works.

This time I did not spend that much time on having a plan b for the final result, because I did not want to give myself a retreat. However, in the end, I realized, no matter how much you like the idea, you should at least estimate the time appropriately and make the adjustment when necessary.

2⃣TIME MANAGEMENT

We had a time schedule at the very beginning and it was one week before the IMA show I realized I’m a little behind my schedule and might be more and more behind. However, I did not adjust the time or my plan (and did not want to admit it but just want to finish the project), which I should probably do.

3⃣BE ORGANIZED

Since I have too many small stuff this time, like fabric, motor, needle, candle, etc. it’s hard to carry them from one place to another place and be organized at the same time. so I laser cut a box for them and made my life much easier. I think next time the can be with more organized categories.

4⃣DOCUMENT EVERYTHING WHILE MAKING IT

POTENTIALS

After finished the project, for further development, I think I can try to rotate the flower while opening. And for the fabric making the flower, I also saw some videos using ribbon to make the flowers, which might also be a good way to try.

François Truffaut says, ‘At first you want to make a brilliant film, in the end, you just wanna finish it’.I guess it’s the same for installation.

However, when you finish it (in a way), your heart is still full of joy. When you recall everything, it was so fun and worth it.

And there were so many people offered help and I really really appreciate it. I can never finish this project by myself, thank you so much for all of your help:

Eric Parren, Andy, Vicky Chen, Stan Gao, Ava Hu, Sylvia Lee, Cindy Hu, all the fellows helped me with laser cut and all the kind people that put flower-making tutorial videos online.💗

May 18, 2019

NOC – Final Project – 🌆 Day to Night 🌃 – Yang Gao

TITLE

🌆Day to Night🌃

DESCRIPTION

🌆Day to Night🌃 presents two similar objects growing in two different places. The two objects represent me and my twin sister at the time that I studied away in New York and my younger sister was in Beijing.

INSPIRATION

The first time I used noise function and found out it can be a very ‘lifelike’ function. The randomness of the function is very like the randomness of human relationship. Also, we used nature of code to present many nature phenomenon like birds flying, star shining, etc, so I’m also curious about how it turns out if I use it to express the relationship between people.

So I decided to tell a story using coding. And instead of going for narrative, I tried abstract storytelling for the first time in my life.

RESEARCH& PROCESS

After researching online, browsing the Nature of Code book and talked to Moon, I decided to use the creature plant to represent me and my sister.

Professor Moon said either go for complicated background with simple objects or go for simple background with complicated protagonist.

1⃣️ So firstly, I went for the former and tried with simple objects. However, I found that if the background is too complicated (in terms of the color), there will be some limitation to do with the objects. I also tried using frameRate to control the background color and realized that the changing is not that organic so I then gave up working on the background and went for changing the objects.

2⃣️ The I decided make the background as simple as possible (just black and white) so that I have more possibilities to work on the objects. For the objects, Moon, mentioned X-Ray flower and it looks really like flow field, which is something I want to play with. So I used the flow field to mimic twin flowers.

3⃣️ And then I played with different color and size of the flower to add more variety to it. I tried with different brightness for the flower and found out that if I want the changing of the color to be more obvious, the changing of the brightness must be very big, which turned out the petals of the flower became black at certain points. So I went for changing saturation according to the time.

3⃣️I tried with background switch when the flower change, however, it’s not very comfortable to look at.

4⃣️After the presentation and according to the feedback, I realized there are not much interaction between the two flowers. So I added a a mouse interaction at a certain time. Even though it destroys the flower, however, I feel like this add more changing to the objects.

CODE

1⃣️ Control the flower using frameCount

2⃣️ Two different kinds of flower

POTENTIANLS

I think I still have lots of space to improve for the project. First of all, add some interaction between two objects to make the story clearer. And also can make the two objects have slightly difference in terms of the shape and behavior, because according to CiCi: ‘your sister and you are not exactly same’. Adding a little difference can be a small surprise in terms of the design.

(Surprisedly, since I used different background [b n w] and played with the saturation, even though the two flowers are exactly the same, the background make them looks differently)

For the presentation form, I think it can also be printed as a book, because in this way, people can see the differences between two flowers and different patterns. However, in this way, people might see the kinetic movement of the flower.

CONCLUSION

I’m satisfied with the visual part of the project, it is very satisfied to watch. However, for the storytelling part and the interaction part (two objects interaction), it can be improved a lot. Even though I went for abstract, the relationship of this two flowers can be conveyed clearer to the audience.

Also for the presentation, I feel like it would be better if I can show the making process to the audience instead of just showing the work. I feel like showing the failure steps can also help them understand your project better.

This is my first time use coding to tell a story and this is also my first time to do experimental storytelling. Experimental storytelling is always something I want to try and never find a chance or a story I feel like can be told through experimental storytelling. Interestingly, by using the abstractness of coding, i made my first try. Although there’s many space for me to improve the final result, it is a nice start and I develop a little confidence in experimental storytelling.

Before this class, I haven’t touched coding for one and a half year. During learning nature of code this semester, I start picking up my coding skills gradually and recall the programming logic. Thanks to the step by step coding in-class.

REFERENCE

Thanks to Professor JH Moon and Leon Eckert for helping me with the project.❤️

April 24, 2019April 24, 2019

Kinetic Light | Final Project Proposal | Yang Gao

PERSPECTIVE AND CONTEXT

CHOE U-RAM

Choe is a Korean contemporary artist who works with kinetic sculpture. Many of his works focus on the beauty of nature combines with kinetic art.

According to The Century of Kinesthesia,

‘concretiest/kineticists identified new technological materials with the new vision and the experiments with actual light and movement’.

Choe’s works show the force of nature with his aesthetic choice. Like Pink Hysteria(2018), Ala Aureus(2017), Una Lumino Callidus-Septem(2015), etc.

DRIFT

Studio Drift’s installations and interactive sculptures the relationship between nature/human/technology is key. ” They have many works that related to natures, space, and flowers. Their work highlight the ‘Force of nature and aesthetic choice’ that Guy Brett mentioned in The Century of Kinesia,

‘The working-out of natural processes was allowed to change the conception of the beautiful’

They also chose their space to contain the projects very well. For example, they hang MEADOW on the ceiling as a decoration light and used gravity and motor to create flowers blooming feeling.

For my project, I’m thinking to make a floral clock based on natural law. Choe U Ram and Studio Drift have many works related to nature, especially flowers. I got some inspiration from their projects and the mechanism behind it.

In addition, space they chose to display the installation also created a new dimension for the installation, which is also inspired me of how to use space to enhance the installation.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project is a physical floral clock based on Linnaeus flower clock using motors and lights. (based on the opening time of different flowers, Linnaeus put different flowers at 12 positions). It will be a clock shape and twelve different kinds of the flower are on the position of the 12 numbers. And flowers will open when the clock hands reach to the specific position.

1	2	3	4
Carnation	Afternoon Squill	Scarlet Pimpernel	Four O’Clock
5	6	7	8
Dandelion	White Sea Lily	Evening Primrose	Proliferous Pink
9	10	11	12
Gentian	Ice-Plant	Star of Bethlehem Flower	Common Marigold

Final Look Concept (It takes some time to load the GIF)

For the project, the audience can stand in front of the project and enjoy it. The flowers will be made out of paper/laser cut wood/fabric(like silk the Drift Studio used in the project) the center of the flower will contain Neopixel or other light that can change colors. The movement of the flowers is controlled by motors. The hands of the clock are made out of laser cut wood/acrylic and controlled by gears/motors.

For the mechanism of the project, I have three options currently.

1. Rotate 2 or 2+ certain pattern.

There will be 2 or more layers of the patterns, and each pattern will rotate in a different direction and speed, so it will look like flowers blooming.

2. Flower open physically. The petals will open using motors.

- CHOE U-RAM’s Una Lumino Callidus-Spetem.
- DRIFT’s Meadow.
3. Using the shadow and rotation to create flowers blooming feeling.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE(GOOGLE SHEET)

April 23, 2019

NOC – Week 10: Autonomous Agents– Yang Gao

Link🔗: https://editor.p5js.org/yg1273@nyu.edu/full/XJwHvutnQ

For this week’s assignment, I made a sketch to mimic the red carps in a pool using autonomous agents and particles. If the user clicks the mouse, it will create a fish food and the fish will gather around.

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019

Kinetic Light – Project 2: Counting Stars✨ – Yang Gao

(It takes some times to load the GIFs in the documentation.)

TITLE

Counting Stars✨

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Counting Stars✨ is a dodecahedron light sculpture that projects constellations based on twelve sun signs using three halogen lights. The sculpture is hung in the middle of a dark room, so people can see the signs projection on every side of the room.

I’m always fascinated by the starry sky and the universe. So for my project, I want to utilize the light and an enclosed room to create an immersive environment to let the audience experience the starry sky and constellations. In addition, it’s rare to see a starry sky in the cities because of the haze and pollution, it is nice to create a place to let the viewer enjoy the beauty of nature.

Perspective and Context

In The World of Perception, Ponty states that:

Space is no longer a medium of simultaneous objects capable of being apprehended by an absolute observer who is equally close to them all, a medium without point of view, without body and without spatial position – in sum, the medium of pure intellect.(54)

Provide that we restore a particular quality to its place in human experience, the place which gives it a certain emotional meaning, we can begin to understand its relationship to other qualities which have nothing in common with it.(60)

Each one of them symbolises or recalls a particular way of behaving, provoking in us reations which are either favourable or unfavourable.(63)

In sum, space and the object that fulfill the space achieve each other to enhance the experience of the project. They are not independent but irreplaceable for each other. In addition, every aspect of the project actually has some relation with the audience, either recall, provoke or repress some reactions within the viewer. So for my project, to make the whole scenario a place that gives the audience the dreamlike feeling, an enclosed space might be necessary. In addition, the scale of the project also matters. if it’s too small, it might be very nice to display and look at, but cannot provide the audience with an atmosphere or environment to experience.

DEVELOPMENT & TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

PURCHASE STRONG LIGHT

To light up the whole room, I need light that is strong enough, so I went to the Electronic Market to purchase three 12V 20w halogen lights and one 12V 50w halogen lights.

Joinery

There are not many resources online to make a dodecahedron box, so I used Joinery to add the connection between each side.

DIFFERENT TOLERANCE

According to the Joinery instructions, the tolerance determines the tightness of each side, however, I laser cut different tolerance with different materials, but nothing change, so I just set the tolerance to 0.

DIFFERENT MATERIALS

I tried with two types of materials, the wood, and acrylic. And I found out the wood material gives the project a handcrafted feeling. Besides, the acrylic glue can make the project really messy because it melts the plastic to glue them together and it can melt the surface of the project easily, so I chose wood in the end.

Then I tried the prototype with the light, however, the result was not that ideal – it can only light up a limit space, if I put it inside a big room, the projecting was not clear at all.

LASER CUT LARGE SIZE

According to the pinhole imaging, I thought probably because the box was not big enough, so I laser cut a twice bigger box the next day and it works.

THE WHOLE SCULPTURE

After testing every aspect of the sculpture with the prototype, I started to make the whole sculpture.

1⃣ Laser cut all the side of the sculpture.

2⃣ Glue them together.

DIFFERENT HOLES

To hang the project in the air, I measured the eye hook and test with different size of the hole and found that 0.52cm radius is the most suitable.

ARDUINO

I connected four halogen lights (one 50 watts, three 20 watts) to the Arduino and make them face four directions. For the coding part, I tried to light up each light every time (if more than one light up, there will be double images on the wall) and let them fade in and fade out in different speed each time, so the projection will be moving around according to the code.

Code: Github

LIGHTS RUNNING TIME

I tested with the lights and intended to let them run for more than one hour to see if it can handle it. However, the transistor on the 50 watts circuit smoked after 20 minutes. So I took the 50 watt light away in the end. The three 20 watts light worked well.

HANG IN THE AIR

After finishing the project, Eric helped me hang the sculpture on the ceiling. The project is in the middle of the room – the audience can experience it in any way, walk, stand, sit, or lie on the floor.

PRESENTATION

The project was displayed in the middle of 821, an almost square room. I rotated the robe a little bit so that the sculpture rotate back and forth when hanging in the air. The audience understood my project and reacted better than I expected.

I gave the audience a hand out which indicate what birthday represent which star sign before they enter the room. I think I could give them the hand out later after they enter the room so that they can enjoy the starry sky first then find their own constellations.

CONCLUSION

I learned two important things this time.

1⃣Making prototypes is so crucial for installations.

I can never be confident enough to make the whole sculpture if I did not know there are more lights available using Arduino that is much stronger, test with different materials and glue to see which one works better for the sculpture (hold heavy things), try different values to see if it change the tightness of the connecting point, try with different hole size to see which one fits better. It is because all the prototypes I did that make the final project step into right rails.

2⃣Always have a plan B, C, D.

Before I went to the Electronic Market, I do not know if we can find a suitable light there. But if I could not find it, I will use the light strip and choose to display in a smaller room. Also, before laser cutting a bigger prototype, I did not know if the projection can be clear in a bigger room, so I thought if the bigger room would not work, I will laser cut a relatively bigger box to accommodate the small sculpture and the audience can look inside. (Luckily, the next day, I laser cut a bigger size and found out it worked – the most difficult part solved). And also if I can not find a place to hang it on the ceiling, I thought I might put it on the display table in the middle of the room or hang it on the ladder, or two tripods with one stand in the middle.

For further improvement, I would like to add more colors(carefully)/changings to the light and probably add a projector inside it to project something through the gap. And adding motors to make the sculpture rotate gradually instead of rotating the robe.

In general, I think the final product met my expectation and the display room was also very nice to enhance the audience’s experience.

And I can never finish this project successfully without help.

Special thanks to Professor Eric Parren, Leon Eckert, Leon Lu, Andy, Nick.