Glass box conundrum: Dissertation concept piece

Experiment 3: Sacred space without walls

Experiment 2: Sound Interaction

The Mosquito: Social Intervention

http://journal.plasticmind.com/ears/mosquito-tone-or-how-to-tell-youre-a-youngun/

I can only hear up to 16 KHz... Old before my time

smart...

Alarms: THE MOST ANNOYING THINGS IN THE WORLD

On top of Uni I work a 24 hour week, no surprise then that I fucking hate my alarm. I went to sleep last night thinking about what could piss me off in a social situation and THIS IS IT. Once on a bus someone's mobile rang to the tone of an alarm I used to have, it sent shivers down my spine. I think sound is most definitely more effective than colour in playing with temperament.

This video is equally as annoying as alarm tones themselves...

Context Meeting with Stephen Hayward

HOW COULD YOU EVOKE THE SACRED WITHOUT ARCHITECTURE?

REINVENTING THE SACRED SPACE

This picture is ridiculously bad but i have a Bible App on my phone...for those particularly biblical moments...

Experiment 1: Focus and Balance

In the eyes of most mammals, birds, reptiles, and most other terrestrial vertebrates (along with spiders and some insect larvae) the vitreous fluid has a higher refractive index than the air, relieving the lens of the function of reducing the focal length. This has freed it up for fine adjustments of focus, allowing a very high resolution to be obtained.

Something that particularly annoys me as I am getting older is my failing vision. When I strain to see or read something I give myself a headache. Out of focus vision is also a sign of drunkeness, once things get a bit blurry you should probably stop drinking. I am therefore interested in whether you could trick someone into thinking they've had one too many by fooling them into thinking that their vision is blurry/out of focus. If effective this method could perhaps be used to reduce binge drinking? Get drunk people to move on? Of course the more alcohol they have already embibed, the more receptive they will be to trickery of the mind.

As well as tricking the eye into thinking something isn't moving when it is, you can do the opposite using clever manipulation of the 2D image. I will now experiment with animation to create movement, ideally I would like to create a subtle moving image piece which plays on the physical stability of the viewer (equilibrioception).

I would like to project this onto a floor in an enclosed space to see whether it had an effect on a persons equilibrioception. My assumption is that if you were too look down at it then try to walk you would experience problems with your balance.

The Body in Space

When considering how the body reacts to an environment it is worth looking into the body as a physical space. This reminded me of the Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion exhibition at the Barbican.

Hiroaki Ohya: The Wizard of Jeanz

Red polyester film cape with many layers, which spreads out and expands like a beehive and can be folded flat; attachment of indigo denim as cover.

This effect reminds me very much of when you get your papers wet and end up with one very long, corrugated Rizla, pretty useless for smoking but visually pretty impressive.

The shape of the cape creates a barrier between the body and the surrounding environment, it is a soft barrier, more of an intermediate medium than a harsh boundary.

Interim Crit

Conclusions from Interim:

- Probably best not to focus on colour theory as it is too subjective, not all colours mean the same thing to everyone due to environment/education/nature/nurture

- Maybe look into what is a more effective mode of annoyance: colour or sound?

- Think about ways of displaying experiments for optimum impact

- What is more annoying in the GIFs: colour or flashing? Whats more obtrusive?

- Refocus on my main consideration: The one thing everyone has in common is their intrinsic human bodily reaction to things, play on the less subjective variables. What is common for everyone?

Experimenting with uncomfortable colour GIFs

One thing i find particularly visually frustrating as a designer is awkward colour combinations, they are aesthetically annoying. I decided to experiment with uncomfortable colour change GIFs to see if i can produce something simple but effective in making the viewer want to look away.

Whats interesting with these GIFs is that individually they are visually obtrusive but when arranged as a pulsating group the colour ranges and combinations achieved are quite satisfying. This goes to show that it can be said to be true that colour balance is important to our mental wellbeing.

Audible sound levels

Humans have a maximum aural range that begins as low as 12 Hz under ideal laboratory conditions,to 20,000 Hz in most children and some adults, but the range shrinks during life, usually beginning at around the age of 8 with the higher frequencies fading. Inaudible sound waves can be detected (felt) by humans through physical body vibration in the range of 4 to 16 Hz. There is a difference in sensitivity of hearing between the sexes, with women typically having a higher sensitivity to higher frequencies than men (Gotfrit 1995).

Light Design

CONTROLLING RGB

One method of controlling the colour balance in an allocated space would be to adjust the RGB channels of lighting. By building a light circuit in which the R,G and B LEDs can be independently controlled, any colour desired can be produced, enabling a controlled environment.

Environmental Design

LIGHT/COLOUR/SOUND/IMAGERY: SENSORY MANIPULATION

- If designers, like the medical profession, begin to incorporate the multidimensional systems of life - molecular biology, biochemistry, quantum physics, as well as ancient modes of healing - into design strategies, the potential exists for extending the framework of communications into a vast system of creativity, learning and healing.

- There are observable, definitive connections between emotions, sensations, nerve impulses, chemical reactions, images, sound and light. The human body is composed of dynamic chemical, electrical, light-based, biomagnetic, spiritual, subtle, and magnetic energy systems that work together to create harmony in our bodies in relation to our environments. Therefore, energy is the common link between mind, body and soul.

- The mental body, where and how the mind receives, processes and distributes information, has a correlating effect on the physical body.

- Every identifiable system in the body must be kept in relative balance, internally and externally, in order to promote proper health and functionality. The use of vibration - light, colour, sound and biofeedback - on the body revels the importance of restoring normal vibratory frequencies to help achieve that balance.

- Entertainment music has the potential to (1) resonate with the listener's feelings energetically, (2) transform negative into a positive, and (3) promote states of liveliness or serenity. Therefore, designers, as sound coordinators, can match appropriate brain wave frequencies to transform the moods of individuals or large groups of people.

- Sunlight, containing all wavelengths of light, consists of the entire electromagnetic spectrum on which we depend to exist. Numerous studies have shown that only natural light and full-spectrum artificial light have an altering effect on the body. As light changes in the natural environment, so do the body's daily rhythmic pattern involving mood, fertility, and enzymatic and hormonal stems.

- Artificial lighting that does not utilise full-spectrum patterns can cause malillumination, thereby depriving the body of the most basic nutrient essential for continued growth and development. Studies show that when fluorescent lights are replaced with full-spectrum lights in classrooms, ADD and hyperactivity decrease while learning, memory retention, and optimism increase. Such studies demonstrate how a tiny adjustment of environmental design such as lighting, could incur profound changes in both attitude and health.

- The body absorbs colour through the vibration it emits. Through colour, we receive most of the energies we need to maintain the health of mind, body and soul. The National Institute of Mental Health has done studies sowing that our mental health, behaviour, and general efficiency depend largely on colour balance.

- By learning how each colour influences the mind and body, designers can effectively use colour to alter energetic and physical states...for instance, the colour red is often used in fast-food restaurants because it stimulates the nervous system, and increases appetite.

Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility - Heller & Vienne

What if?

What if a physical environment could manipulate the emotive response of the brain causing a change in behaviour?