Idea 1: Annoying Stairs
Background – Because of a problem in both my feet I do walk really slow (I do have friends that do struggle to “keep up” with my pace). So I was thinking about this project while going to the city. Upon arriving at the subway station I saw the usual commuter running up the stairs to get into the train as fast as possible, I – while keeping my pace – got into the same train.
Where – subway station (no particular one)
The Idea – Play with sounds in the stairs (sensors in each step), the message that I had in mind would be something like [ Late is a state of mind (soothing sound) ]. Part of the “fun” would be hearing the mess that would become the message at rush hour.
Problems pointed out by the class – subway stairs don’t have defined direction (people go up and down through the same stair).
Solution – Think of a sentence that works both ways. And think of another space to place the project.
Idea 2: Block party.
Background – play with people perception of a public space.
Place – block from a street in the Villages/Tribeca/Soho, where the buildings are older, not as tall and the streets are narrower.
The idea – use projection mapping to completely alter a block [images not defined, one projector per building]. The interaction of this piece was thought to happens in to different ways: 1) all projectors turned on at the same time, whoever glaze the street from the conners will see a completely altered space. As one gets in the street the projection from the buildings he/she is standing in front off turns off, showing the original building façade. As one moves from one building to the other along the street, the “turning off” effect would follow. 2) is the opposite, the projects are off, someone glazing the block from the corner would only see a regular street, with regular buildings. As someone enters the street the buildings he/she are standing in front off will get illuminated by the projection. As one moves from one building to the other along the street, the projection would follow.
Problem pointed out by the class – size.
Solution – Think about another place (maybe a corridor at the school) to put the projection. Think about a more suitable theme for the projection.
Idea 3: The Wrong Kind of People
Background – So this is my favorite idea so far, the idea came from a meeting with someone that shall not be named, who at one point of the meeting said [in other words] that hobos [among others] are the wrong kind of people.
Place – Time Square
The idea – The idea is to build a room, with all the four walls made of projection screens, in every wall would be projected a line of “wrong kind of people” [Hobo, transsexual male/female going through the changing process, DragQueens, people with some sort of deformity or maybe even missing a limb – and a “regular” white/black/asian men or women] side-by-side. The concept is to take the viewer out of its comfort zone, so the people in the projection would be inviting the viewer to get closer to them, with gestures only, not making a noise. As the viewer get close [Kinetic sensor to map the viewer position in the room] enough the people in the projection would start telling personal stories about themselves or a experience they have gone through [almost like a private conversation]. If a white viewer goes to the white projection or a black viewer goes to the black projection, they’ll be told to move along to someone else “to listen to a different story” [user Kinect sensor to recognize viewers features].
Problem pointed out by the class – too complex.
Solution – Scale down.
