//About the project and some other thoughts

I decided to use fluorescent and iridescent acrylic boards that have reflective qualities to fabricate the final piece of work. This is inspired by Olafur Eliasson’s large installation pieces. One thing I noticed from the testing is that people didn’t know what kind of actions they do is being sensed and interpreted by the sensor. In order to set the context that this is a heartbeat project, I want to convey the message in a poetic way that is easy to understand yet not too explicit. Thus I first play with the shadows and light to create a heart-like shape. As for the interior of the installation, instead of hiding the physical computing part from the audience, I want to expose the circuits and the wire to their extreme. To me, what is most intriguing about physical computing is the fusion of mind and body that it creates. The fusion can be interpreted in 2 ways. First it is the fusion of the computer’s body and the computer’s mind. To make an installation, it is neither about one side of this dichotomy. In order to let things work, we need both the code (mind) and the circuit (a physical body). Thus I want to expose that wiring and circuit as apparent as possible, for it is the technical “heart” of this heart piece. Another aspect of the mixture of body and mind is the bodily movement physical computing affords its audience through these sensors and effects. My project embodies people’s invisible physicalities through physical movements of the lights and motors. And also like all of the fabulous projects the students in our our program are making,  physical computing provides human computer interaction with a greater space for bodily movements. It breaks the boundary of traditional computer works where the only movement people have is typing. I think with these sensors and interactions, we are recreating the missing bodies in the technical world.

With that being said, still, I think the physical movement my installation affords the audience to do is still limited: all they need to do is the place their hand on the sensor, tap some keys on the laptop, and placing some stickers on the clock. Their position is fixed. In the future I should think more on how to create more bodily movements that is not limited in space.

//Reflections on the project and on this class in general

I come from a background with zero experience with both coding and physical computing so it is both exciting and difficult for me to explore all of the things we have learnt this semester. I am always interested in interactive installation art pieces but never knew how to actually put them to real life. This class provides me with great opportunity and technological support to reify what I aim to do. Still, I am not sure which level I am at right now. There are a lot of things I could improve in my project. I feel that most of the time, probably because I am a beginner to this field, I think more on the practical part while somehow losing the conceptual part, making the work less solid on its theory. For instance, what occupies my mind the most when crafting the project are questions like “whether I can get the exact information from this sensor”, or “whether this piece of code works well”, instead of questions like“does this effect communicate what I try to say”, “is this idea new to the audience or is it cliche”, etc. Thus what came out as a result is a “functional” or “working” piece, but not a perfect artwork or helpful product when someone ponder on it deeply. Yes, it reacts to your heartbeat, but so what? The responsive part in this project is probably greater than the interactive part. I started from a theoretical context relating to Bergson but I think the more technical experiments I have run, the more deep thinking on concept is lost in the process. I hope this is a problem that can be addressed later when I become more sufficient and proficient with all these technical skills.