I have been thinking for a while about my potential final project, and the reason I posted it late is because I am still unsure what to do. The worst thing is that even though I am uploading this post late, I still have not come up with anything.
The two ideas that I had, were:
- A room with lightbulbs that would light up if a person stands underneath them. There would be a screen in front of them with very dim star constellations which can be seen from the UAE during November. When standing in a certain spot, they would see a corresponding star constellation becoming brighter on a screen in front of them. However this idea requires too much space and lights take up quite a lot of work with not that exciting effect on the audience.
- I had seen DIY hologram videos that you can make a prism, put it on an iPad to see a seemingly 3D video. So my next idea was to create a box with an iPad and the prism in it, where people could see different components of the Solar system rotating around their axis. To switch between different components, I’d make a map/2d model that shows the position of each planet in the Solar system. To make it more educational, I was thinking of a voiceover that would briefly tell about each planet and the Sun. However, this idea in the end might be too simple and I would like there to be more interaction and a “deeper” conversation between the installation and audience than just pressing buttons. Additionally, while this could be a cool project to teach children about planets, I am not too sure that people would have the patience to listen about each planet at an exhibition.
When I think about space, I imagine dark night and stars, which is why I liked my first idea, though the resources are a big part of why I don’t see it working out. I’ve been thinking about how I could scale it down, but that’s when I ran into making it too simple (such as, the 2nd idea).
Furthermore, I somehow keep seeing a blanket with LEDs to represent the night sky, so maybe the audience could control them through a touchscreen? Also, looking at different installations, I noticed that the magnitude of different projects was increased by placing mirrors around, to make the space seem much larger, as shown in the picture below.
Inspiration
As I was looking at the other art installations for inspiration, I realized that I am somehow drawn to the fact that stars often seem like they are so close, yet turns out they can be thousands of light years away. (So this seems very exciting: http://www.fairweathermag.com/art/2015/12/13/stars-by-stella-artois) I also stumbled upon this project, where I liked the idea that the audience had the power of determining the light and music of the space: https://creators.vice.com/en_au/article/vvjzz8/this-interactive-installation-lets-the-audience-curate-lights-and-music
But this was the very first installation that I got inspired from:
