Closing Thoughts and Documentation

When I first prosed my idea, I wanted to create a piece that promoted interactivity and two way dialogue between the piece and the viewer, I also wanted the piece to directly affect the space, acting almost as an architectural insertion.

In many ways I feel that I have been very successful in terms of reaching my proposed goals. Despite having to allow for some aesthetic and functional compromises, I believe the piece works to achieve my goals.

My intent with the aesthetic design of the work was to create a screen with a 2.21:1 aspect ratio which would function as a gesture towards the experience of cinema. This reference was meant to evoke ideas of the narrative of cinema while also speaking towards ideas of immersion and theatricality in the work. The screen is also boarded by a thick wood frame, and hanging on the wall I understood this as a reference to two-dimensional work such as painting or photography-but the interactive and spacial qualities of this work simultaneously function to challenge those 2-D associations, a conflict I find interesting. At first I had wanted to make a sleeker "floating" screen, and had to resort to a larger box-like form for logistical reasons, but a peer has pointed out that the simplicity of this box design helps focus the attention of the piece on the light and the screen rather than having a complex object which competes with the light....At the moment Im ok with the form.

I wanted the light to fade and dim very fluidly as the viewer moved towards and away from the piece, gradually growing brighter as the viewer got closer. I was not able to make this work due to my limited abilities with the technology, and my choice of using a digital sensor was, in hind-sight, not ideal given its delay in communication with arduino. Instead, the LEDs blink periodically as the viewer interacts with the work. Although not intentional, I have found this "glitch" to work very well with the piece, the blinking is certainly reminiscent of morse code and this promotes the idea of communication, and hints as a communication between the work and the viewer-a quality I enjoy very much.

Despite my hesitations about the piece as I was building it, I am very happy with the final piece. Below are some images and a short video of the piece. I will post Process images and a few artist references soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx26Zz5ZfNI