Languages and Futures: (Not all is) Lost in Translation

SDMNE FALL 2021

Not all is

LOST IN TRANSLATION Andrea Sotomayor Sharvari Sovani Tanvi Mehta Zainab Akhtar

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SDMNE FALL 2021

INTRODUCTION For our design project, we decided to leave the past behind and focus on how our present can give us an insight into our predicted future. Through an installation, we were able to experience the adjacent future by the process of making and immerse our audience into our vision of the future as our final product.

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SDMNE FALL 2021

PLANNING

KEY CONCEPTS

01 02 03 04

TENSION

CONTINUUM

CONNECTIONS

CHAOS

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SDMNE FALL 2021

PLANNING

VISUALIZING THE FUTURE We used existing objects to visualize the concepts we were trying to represent in an imersive installation

01. TENSION Squishy mesh ball

02. CONTINUUUM Infinity Race Track

03. CHAOS Sound Igloo

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SDMNE FALL 2021

PLANNING

KEY ELEMENTS

01

AN ENCLOSURE - GEODESIC DOME

02

VISUALS

03

SOUND

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SDMNE FALL 2021

MAKING

THE STRUCTURE

We decided to use newspaper for the dome structure to represent a communication tool that connects the world.

Our first step was rolling 165 pages to create the struts for the geodesic dome.

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IT'S HANDMADE

SDMNE FALL 2021

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MAKING

REAL TIME CHANGE FILLING THE SPACE As we started to cover the spaces to interpret the elements and drivers of change in language, we were able to experience how quick and randomly the space (language) changed as we manipulated the materials.

We used printed paper with scripts, astrology and tools, foil and yarn to represent smaller connections, reflections and tension.

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VISUALS & SOUND The Audio-Video Compilation was an attempt to capture the essence of our 'Language Map' through a different medium.

The video includes a series of visuals and graphics relating to the journey of evolution and dissolution of languages across the globe- cave paintings, sign language, different scripts, technological advancements, natural disasters, AI etc.

The audio complementing it is similar in its progression. The gradual layering and overlapping of these sounds keep increasing and reach a point of incomprehensibility before it starts receding to calmness and eventually, complete silence.

SDMNE FALL 2021

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SDMNE FALL 2021

THE RESULT What we had, as a result, was an experience of looking at a representation of an imagined future from the outside- a future that entails elements of the past, materialized by different mediums and textures like newspapers, yarn, symbols, tools etc. as well as the evolving present, manifested in the form of the audio-video compilation.

This representation of the future could be experienced from either the outside or the inside depending on the observer's readiness to deal with the discomfort of entering it.