Coming from the last weeks observations, I used MadMapper to map the reflections exactly on the tiles and started with example videos of the programm mapped onto these tiles to mimick the effect of using «mood videos»; videos that help to convey the feeling of the particular topic islands with immersive visuals. Here, I could think for instance of organic shapes, slowly flowing. Together with sound and maybe changed floor conditions, an immersive experience of a particular topic island can be created.
To record what I did and additionally, to provide demonstration material for Mirjam's meeting with the responsible persons for the rooms, I sketched some detailed plans, also based on the quick sketches done with Anina last week.
The following days, I experimented with the contradictions mentioned previously and started with material probes of silicone, mixed with other materials to create body-related material. This material seems instable and can be paired with the contradiction of something fixed. It seems like hard and heavy but it is just silicone and thus, soft and flexible. This contradiction could be used to firstly make the visitor aware of these and secondly it could be used, for instance, to project onto it, particularly the aluminum sample. Conceptwise, this relates to the fact that the statements of the women seem like individual utterances of emotions and time-related settings, nothing someone can really refer to because it is such a personal experience. But then, altogether, it generates a pattern that allows researchers to interpret and conclude from.
I also had a mentoring with Clemens on 4th of April who stated this current state as a good starting point, espeically when considering the threefold change of an analog utterance of the women to a digital visualization and thus, generalization and quanification and from there, back to an analog way. This is what can be seen as a translation of the three layers of the installation when it displays the recap of the actual birth in form of their statements, the data abstraction in form of the pattern on the floor, and finally the recap experience as a reflection on the ceiling. Summing up, these layers represent the levels of abstraction. As a side note: it can be interesting to observe how these translations and abstractions slightly change the meaning of the original feeling.
He also suggested to go further into these material probes and investigate these probes more in detail. We discussed that they raise more questions such as «What does it tell datawise?», «Which structures are visible?», and «Could this be applied to the data set?» On the other hand and coming from the data set there are questions of «What does the data set tell materialwise?», «Can these contradictions of a data-driven perspective and individual, tangible, and analog material studies contribute something?»
When discussing about possible ways to implement interactions to make the visitor understand the topic by himself, one annotation was to think of the whole parkour as an electrical circuit with for instance resistors, transistors, and capacitors. Applied onto the project, this could mean to implement the semi-structured parkour with obstacles to force an examination with the installation and the topic. For instance, the project could be built with elemets that narrow down the more the visitor gets into it. In the end, there could be some kind of reward for taking this effort: learning what it is about. This way, a natural dramaturgy can be created by a simple interaction like walking.This could allow the visitor to position himself within this semi-structured setting and through this change of perspective, create an interactive part. As an example, he mentioned the «Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas» in Berlin, Germany.
Another input on that matter came from fellow student Gabriel Bach who suggested to have a look in adjusting the heights of the tiles to let the visitor discover different states of the data set. We disucssed the idea of grouping some tiles and use one string to control them. Through using spools with a different diameter, the speed of every single element could be controlled. This could enable visitors to discover different states of the data set by changing one variable. The value of the standard deviation could something that can be visualized with that. The fact that changing the height of these tiles also affects the projection on the florr and thus, the pattern researchers are investigating, is another benefit of that approach.
General annotations of me were to visualize my process, which is more like going back and forth but still progressive, for the final documentation in order to provide a better understanding, not just for the visitors but also for me as a recap. This could be interesting since it is extremely influenced by the contradictions of the project.
At the end of the week, I got the joyful message that Mirjam could manage to make the room 6.K02 safe. This means, I can now start with concrete planning on how to map the data-set detailed and order necessary equipment as well as prototype directly in the room.
