Synthscapes: Exploring the Ontology of Illumination

Dusa_Akshata Independent Study_Fall19

SYNTHSCAPES:

exploring the ontology of Illumination

Photos taken during the “Blue Hour,” the period of twilight when the sun is at a certain depth below the horizon that it emits indirect light.

The “blue light” that is seen is possible due to a concept called Rayleigh scattering, where the light is in shorter wavelengths (which we see as blue).

IMPLICATIONS OF THE BLUE LIGHT The Blue Light is constantly altering the built environment. Through its ontology, the Blue Light becomes a spatial element that has the ability to interact with people differently than just through a screen.

The Blue Light embeds itself into our constantly evolving culture. The Blue Light distorts time, allowing the nights to be longer. It is not just a product of the technology, but instills itself into the object it resides, ultimately taking over and implementing new ideas and emotions correlated to the object. What are some of the effects that this new, evolved sense of light causes for people?

How do we currently view the Blue Light? Is it approachable?

Comforting? Do these emotional responses vary between generations?

ABSTRACT Light can define a place, instill itself into memory, atmosphere, cause distortion in space, frame things, create illusions, and convey time.

The purpose of this project is to give light a newfound sense of objectivity and create a “material sublime” from composed atmospheres that tie together the visual, aural, and tactile realm. This material sublime of the “Blue Light” incites curiosity and forms a new relationship with the viewer that the study explores (i.e. awareness). The study will design three varying scales of immersive environments (each would include a 3D model of the setup, along with a curated set of audioreactive visuals) of which only one scale will be fabricated. Each composition will instill different relationships between the audience and the objectivity of light.

The small-scale composition deals with the user looking into an object that projects light. In the medium scale composition (to be fabricated), the user is looking at an object that projects light, and in the large-scale composition the user is in a space of projection. These immersive experiences create a new dialogue for the application of technological advancements in lighting by tackling the visual, aural, and haptic realm.

I. Curated projections as a part of creating an immersive visual realm This can be seen as the “main” object: the light (projection). Sight is the first sense people use to spectate. This light will be dependent on sound.* Themes: Identity, Nostalgia, Architecture II. After acquiring the user’s attention with the visual realm, the

immersive experience is emphasized by the aural realm that can be

manipulated by the user. Sound manipulates the visuals* a.The audio of the installation will use a method called Granular Synthesis, which is a basic sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale. It is based on the same principle as sampling.

However, the samples are not played back conventionally, but are instead split into small pieces of around 1 to 50 ms. These small pieces are called grains. b.A Nanokontroller will be programmed to Max 8 to distort sound, which will be translated into image using Processing.

III. The Blue Light acts as an object that the user interacts with, creating a tactile realm. a. By the concept of running visuals through a prosthetic, the blue light becomes objectified in the sense that it is housed in an item that the user interacts with, in a different way than the norm (i.e. instead of directly with screens).

The goal of this study is to evoke a sense of awareness through an immersive installation. The future interiors can implement haptic conditions that use the senses in an efficient way, bringing spatial awareness, or even a sense of duality with one’s self.

prec01 The following precedents were chosen due to the critical role of illumination distorting, framing, or constructing a space. The concept of animating data visualized through illumination also holds importance to unifying the senses and creating visual harmony.

011960

CENOTAPH FOR ISAAC NEWTON ETIENNE-LOUIS BOULLEE

This memorial was dedicated for Issac Newton and represented the Enlightment. The centograph consisted of a dichotomy of Romantic and Neoclassical styles that created a sacred relationship between emotion and rationale, The sphere represented perfection + majestic gradiations of light and carried an impression of an interior world that inverts exterior lighting conditions.

#enlightenment #inverted_conditions

prec02

011970

RODEN CRATER + GANZFELD JAMES TURRELL

The Roden Crater is a celestial observatory that resides in an extinct volcano cinder cone in northern Arizona. The large-scale ‘artwork’ is comprised of 21 viewing spaces connected by 6 tunnels.

“The Ganzfeld effect (from German for “complete field”), or perceptual deprivation, is a phenomenon of perception caused by exposure to an unstructured, uniform stimulation field.

The effect is the result of the brain amplifying neural noise in order to look for the missing visual signals.” In this empty light installation, Turrell creates experiences that play with people’s perceptions by transitioning the room to different colors and, thus, atmospheres, creating a divine space. #aperture #sensory #perception

prec03

011960

COMPUTATIONAL PERIODICS JOHN WHITNEY

John Whitney, one of the father’s of computer animation, used computer-aided manufacturing (or CAM) to create a reel of computer generated stills. These stills were produced through sin and cosine parabolic functions that produce organic drawings that resemble blossuming flowers and metamorphisis.

These animations were used in T.V programs and commercials, and also imbedded itself into the 1960’s Psychedelia movement with his piece titled Catalog,

#CAD #Psychedelia #manifestation

prec04

052000

NOTATIONAL CAD JORINDE VOIGT

Jorinde Voigt is a contemporary German artist who creates computer-generated (coded) drawings comprised of notations of algorithms and soundwaves. These drawings exist as part of a series that explores form through code. The systematic arrangement and repetition of circumstances that interact with each other creates reaction chains that often allow geometric asymmetries such as those inherent in fractals.

This is done through the layering of these notational arrangements.

#CAD #algorithms #fractals

prec05

062010

LIGHT STRINGS JINSIL SEO

The case study discusses the immersive experience in the installation Light Strings. The installation explores the idea of embodiment and materiality. The study discusses what immersion is, and how it is integrated in new media, interactive art, and physical environments. The installation incorporates touch, sound, and vision (3 realms of senses) to truly allow it to become physically immersive. The article also mentions some findings from audiences of the install; one interesting thing about the findings was that people related the experience to metaphors (poetics).

#sensory #activation #metaphors #spatial_scales

prec06

011960

ARCHIVE DREAMING REFIK ANADOL

Archive Dreaming is a 6 meter-wide circular space translated into an architecturally immersive experience. The occupant resides in an multidimensional archive of 1,700,000 documents sorted by machine learning algorithms.

The space is created as a canvas with light and data applied as materials that transform the space through its kinetic motion.

#architecturally_immersed #archive #programmed_data

exploratory The following sketches explore the different scales that the Blue Light can take in its role in machines.

The scales of these situations can be differed by how the user approaches it, or generally their relationship to the object/situation.

The medium scale iteration will be the prime focus of the study this semester, with the intention of building a mock up model.

Vessel of Distorted Identities

med_scale

SYSTEMS DIAGRAM

The Universe Inside: Totem "There's no way you're supposed to be.

There's nothing you're supposed to do.

There's nowhere you're supposed to go. And you'll find you're in an eternal here and now. That's your way of discovering who you are, and how the universe works, and what man's place in it is. I want you to do something that expresses you. No more playing games with me. I want to see you."

facial distortion w/ modwheel scrub ctrl

glitch distortion w/ transposition ctrl

scale distortion w/ pan ctrl

Granular Synthesis operates on a micro time scale and is based on the principle of sampling. This Max script connects to the nanokontroller through MIDI data, allowing full user control. This script will then translate audio to visual through parameters placed in the granular synthesis script.

dig_fab Due to time and budget constraints, the medium scale iteration was scaled down by 1/2. This allowed an iPhone to create the projections to convey the overall idea. The technology (coding) aspect of the project was sacrificed to build a mock-up of the object, but is still continuing to be studied.

STRUCTURE

3/4” MDF CNC milled + filleted edges with the table router. Layers supported with 1/4” wooden dowels

left: 1/4 scale structure test with skin iteration right: 1/2 scale structure after assembly

BASE

3D printed container for iPhone projection

3/4� MDF contoured form scaled x + y by 1/2, allowing nanokontroller to still fit.

After the pieces were milled, they were glued together and sanded down with an angle grinder.

16 gauge steel, waterjet, drilled holes @ tabs to bend and screw into MDF. Welded 1/2� rods to base as legs.

left: 1/4 scale model base 3D printed with metal support right: 1/2 scale model base out of MDF, sheet metal support + welded legs

SKIN

Originally made to waterjet 28 gauge cold rolled metal, but due to inavailibilty of metal, the same file was used to lasercut posterboard with a netallic finish

Strips of each edge were lasercut out of chipboard to secure the posterboard together. Proposed binding is hex bolts.

Final review Some feedback recieved during the final review included a need for revision in terms of how to present the object. Is the object a vessel, or more of an artifact? is the object a machine or is it machining an experience? These nuances are important to consider because of the connotations these words can implement in an experience.

Another piece of feedback recieved included the overall environment this object was to be placed in. Is it something that could be mobile in order to reach a larger audience, or is it fixed like an ATM machine?

F2019

Vessel Vessel of of Distorted Distorted Identities Identities Looking at an illuminated object This object addresses the visual, aural, and haptic senses by allowing the user to distort their own identity through sound and light.

camera

speakers

iPad + Hologram

nanokontroller