Concept Statement
I am interested in how humans are changing the natural environment, shaping the earths surface and climate. I am looking to focus my research on the presentation of environmental issues on social media, as I believe the communication of these problems is very important in finding solutions and bringing about change. For my project, I want to make an interactive, dynamic a web and/or installation piece that reacts to the viewer to illustrate the relationship between nature and humans.
Protoype 1
A lot of our current and future environmental issues evolve around water, such as droughts, drink-water shortages, wildfires, melting ice, flooding, ocean acidification or coral bleaching. Therefore, I want to use water as a reference point for this idea. I imagine it as either a website or projection displaying a simple (3D) water surface. Interaction in form of a mouse click or gesture will trigger a ripple / wave on the surface, and a voice describing a personal story related to water, allowing the viewer to explore different perspectives on the importance and transformation of water. I am thinking about sourcing these stories either from interviews, viewer submissions or social media posts (maybe through twitter in connection with certain hashtags).
Prototype 2
In this prototype, I want to show the relationship between viewer (human) and artwork (nature) more directly. Projecting presentations of nature from social media, the image will change according to human activity in the space, which could be measured according to sound, temperature changes or motion. In the case of absence of visitors, it would display popular photos marked with hashtags like #wildlifephotography, #beautifulnature or #discoverearth; if the room is full and loud the images would change to ones marked with #coralbleaching, #californiawildfires or #drought.
