1 We Are Animals
This project is a combination of a mirror that translate the users’ image into an animal figure and an illustrated handbook that collects all the images created for the users. When we look at the mirror in the first minutes, the mirror will reflect the real human face. However, after a few seconds, the image will gradually turn into an animal face. The animal figure is customized based on the users features such as gender, skin color and hair( even the body size). It’s a gradual process and the animal figure will act according to the users which make the audience understand that the animal in the mirror stands for themselves. Spontaneously, there will be a printer that print the image on a book with text descriptions. This book is being added with more and more images as audience keeping on using the mirror. The book is a record of the various interesting images in the society.
I got this idea because recently I am really in favor of a Japanese Cartoon called <Beastars>. In this cartoon, all the main characters are having a manlike body while with an animal-like head. The story mainly tells about the conflicts between the herbivores and carnivoresācarnivores are not allowed to eat meat and being discriminated by their strength that may cause danger and herbivores are suffering from the threat from the carnivores and also being discriminated by their weakness. I think the cartoon is reflecting something happening in real life. The animals may stand for different social groups in society, such as male, female, the black, the white etc., which is a very common technique that is used in books, comics and films. For example, <Zootopia>,<Animal Farm> and<Maus>.
I find something related to my idea is one of the graduation project in our school called āBook of Privilegesā.
The project reflect peopleās individual privileges into different colors. And what I want to do is to reflect someoneās personal image into animals.
This kind of personification is a very useful technique in art creations, which uses a fun way to reflect things happening among people. Nowadays, many people are confusing with one simple but sophisticated question: who I am. I think my project “We are animals” can help the confused users to have a clearer understanding of their personal identity that symbolizes their role in the big society by showing them the animalized image. The challenge in this project might be the facial recognition technology.
2 Happiness Vending Machine
The project will be a Vending Machine whose products are exhibited in a screen, and what it sells are not the real food or drink but the “happiness” from various people. The users can use one coin to buy one short paragraphs about the happy things happened in everyday life from a person. For example, “I am so happy because the sun is very shiny today.” Or the text can be changed into only a picture. For example, a cute cat photo that makes one person feel joyful. The buyer can also upload their “happiness” into the vending machine and sell them to other users.
I have read a book written by Haruki Murakami. In the book, he raise a concept called “a little happiness in hand”. I think it is what I want to sell in my project. I get the inspiration from a Japanese novel called <Grief Grocery Store>. In this book, there is a grocery store. If you send letter to it to talk about your grief, the owner will write some advice and encouraging words as a response. Since peopleās grief can be shared, how about sharing peopleās happiness? This is the reason why I make this proposal.
Nowadays, people are losing the ability of being happy. They think life is too hard, and they lose their hope towards life. I think the Happiness Vending Machine shares an optimistic attitude towards life to those people. There are countless things in the world are worth happy for, so why are you keeping so sad every day? The challenge here may be that it is different for every individual in what they will be happy for.
3 The Flowing Tao
The project shows an image with black and white. The pattern on the picture will change accordingly to the movement and the voice made by the audience in a flowing way. The image will change from time to time, but when everything is over, it will change into its original pattern — a Taiji figure.
I get the inspiration when I was doing research on Taoism for my EAP project. Taoism raises a very interesting concept that Yin and Yang are contrast to each other, but at the same time, they are complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world.
I want to use this project to embody the concept Yin and Yang. The pattern may change from time to time, but there is always 50% black and 50% white in the picture, which reflects a kind of harmony. This project aims at delivering the spirit of the Chinese traditional culture Taoism to those who don’t quite understand it. The challenge may be that the concept is too abstract for those who haven’t heard Taoism before to understand.