- Chronus exhibition
“JUST WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES TODAY’S COMPUTERS SO INTRIGUING, SO NONSENSICAL?”
An indescribable thrill came over me after viewing Chronus’ exhibition. When technology and art are combined, such a mysterious and aesthetic product can be created. Nowadays, when people talk about science and technology, they regard it as a commodity that creates economic value. But in this exhibition, I see that when technology is no longer just a tool, but an object of aesthetic and artistic value, I think it is a great progress of human aesthetics. It has given the computer new meaning and new value, namely the ornamental value.
What impressed me most was the work “Rechender Raum”. In this huge work, I saw the original parts that I was very familiar with, such as arduino, servo, motor and so on. I never thought that these original parts could be combined and displayed as works of art. This work is mainly composed of numerous electronic components, which work together and control each other. At the same time, through rubber bands and lead pendants, the whole work is organized like a neural network.
(Rechender Raum)
In the exhibitions I have seen before, most of the works of art are not combined with technology. By contrast, the biggest reason why the art in this exhibition makes me feel different is that these machines seem “alive” and animate. Whether you look at it or not, they’re doing their job, which means the art combined with technology is self-conscious. Your viewing or interaction may be part of the task for them, but they can still work without you.
- Research
I think this product — love box messager — gave me a lot of inspiration. For this final project, I want to make a product aimed at the interaction between couples. The product love box is very consistent with my definition of interaction. Although modern people can chat with their mobile phones and computers, they cannot feel the true feelings across the cold screen, and the messages you receive are not necessarily what you want to receive, such as deadline for homework. But with love box as a medium, when you see the lovely red heart swing, you can’t wait to open it, because you know it’s a message from someone who loves you. Love box builds a more warm communication bridge for people. It enables people to interact with each other in a novel and warm way. Meanwhile, people also interact with Love box in this process. Therefore, this product is not only a new manifestation of interaction, but also has a strong use value, which inspires me a lot.
However, for this product, Hey Bracelet, it does not meet my standards for interaction. This product is also aimed at couples. When both of them are wearing hand rings and connecting with each other, if one of them covers the bracelet, the other’s bracelet will move up and down as if to say “Hey”. The original intention of this design is very good, it is designed for long-distance couples, when missing each other, touch a ring to tell each other I miss you. However, I think the fact that the receiver only feels the movement of the ring does not reflect interaction. In addition to greeting, the movement of the bracelet can’t represent any other information, let alone telling the other what my mood is. Its only function is to say “Hey”. Therefore, I think this product does not well interpret interaction.
Although they are all couple bracelets, Bond Touch bracelet are more interactive. After a couple wear those rings, one side can tap the bracelet according to different frequency and amount. So couples can preset a sign, such as short three taps represent “I love you”, and if one side suddenly want to express their emotion, he/her can through this way to tell the other. Bond Touch Bracelet conveys a much richer meaning than the Hey Bracelet.
- My perspectives of interaction
After learning for most of the semester, I started to think that interaction is the process between machines and people, which is divided into three steps: receive, process, and speak. Through the group presentation and midterm project, I think the interaction on the basis of before, should have more practical significance, and can affect people’s real life. After visiting the exhibition of Chronus, I think the interaction between machine and human is of aesthetic significance, which should not only define a product from the perspective of pragmatism, but also from the perspective of aesthetics. So I think it’s very important to make the machine artistic. However, now, I think interaction not only means that machines interact with people, but also means that machines are a bridge for people to interact with each other. From love box messager and Hey bracelet, it can be seen that the machine is of great significance for interaction between people. So far, I think a good interaction should include two parts. The first part is the interaction between people and machines, and the second part is the interaction between people through machines. Meanwhile, good interaction should have two meanings: practical value and aesthetic value. In the exhibition of Chronus, I saw a sentence that philosopher Gerald Lee said: “Machines are the unconscious brains of the world…”Because of this, the interaction among human, social and mechanical is so important and worthy of our consideration and discussion.
- work cited
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-ROtD85jo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPlessKQXyE
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gtccVMJNfs