The Forgetful Machine Update – October 20, 2023

For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about several aspects of The Forgetful Machine.

My Thoughts

Forgetting Effects

To let viewers understand the machine is forgetful, I need to make my installation express that idea visually. Below are some of my thoughts:

• Visual Effects
  1. Image noise: image noise can be naturally associated with words like unclear and blurry. Humans often use the same set of words to describe a fading memory.
  2. Misplaced or wrongly colored pixels: this is commonly seen on problematic LED screens. In those cases, machines “forget” how to operate correctly.
  3. Fading effect/yellowing effect/discoloration: these effects can be very expressive as visualizations of memory fading.
  4. Resolution reduction: the forgetfulness of a machine can be due to a reduction in memory, which causes resolution reduction.
  5. Retro-tech aesthetics: the image/video can gradually transform its style from very modern to retro-tech aesthetics, illustrating a sense of outdated information. For example, film scratches patterns can be added to the image/video.
  6. Video fragments: randomly loop fragmented excerpts in a video to suggest that the machine struggles to recall stored video information.
• Audio Effects
  1. Audio fragments: randomly loop fragmented, garbled, or barely recognizable audio clips to suggest that the machine struggles to recall stored audio information.
  2. White noise
  3. Sound distortion
  4. Audio glitch
  5. Volume down

Media Input

Since there will be a lot of visual/audio effects, I decided to keep the media files simple. I want image/video files that apparently associated with the concept of time or memory. As mentioned in the previous post, I want to keep the clock as one of the media files because of its direct connection with time. Or, I can choose many clocks of different appearances, each having a different effect to showcase the concept of forgetfulness. Below are some images/videos of clocks and my thoughts on how to use them to demonstrate forgetfulness.

In the previous post, I mentioned the Ru Kiln effect. However, it is difficult to find a long video of this effect. The best video I found is this one by China Xinhua News. The sound of the Ru Kiln effect is amazing but the Ru Kiln effect in this video is too fragmented. Therefore, I’m not sure if I can put it in my installation.

Interaction

I would like to keep the simple interaction mentioned in the previous post: when a face is detected in front of a projection, the media file is restored to normal; when no face is detected, the media file is gradually altered by a visual effect.

Remaining Questions

• Since my interaction design is simple, I want to know if my media is exciting enough to make the audience stay and think before losing interest.
• Should I apply the same effects to all the media? Currently, there are 1) several media files and 2) several effects. Since there will be 4 projections, I think it is more understandable and less messy if I modify 4 media files using the same effects, or modify the same media files using 4 different effects. Or should I make each media file have different forgetting effects every time it forgets?
• I don’t know if I should integrate the audio effects into my work, or if a meditative BGM is good enough. I feel that it will be too messy if the visuals and the audio are both changing.