This installation is my attempt to explain the brain using non verbal language. The internal processes that occur within the brain are complex and at the forefront of society today. As awareness for mental illness continues to grow, the understanding of the brain becomes more crucial. As depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, ADHD and other illnesses become more identifiable, diagnoses become more commonplace; people need a way to understand what they are going through in a language that is not medical.
The installation is created as a method to bring the internal processes of the mind into the external world. MRI and CAT scan data are turned into images that people can interact with using alternative interfaces. An IPad Air displays a touch interface that can be used to select one of the four regions of the cerebrum. Each setting is a representation of the several states of data processing that may occur from individual to individual or moment to moment. Some visuals may seem normal, but at times the graphic information will show the images in a state that is not true to the natural world. The viewer is able to choose a thought mode that appeals to them. Accompanying the touch interface is a 3-dimensional brain. The brain made of satin is rigged with three capacitive touch sensors that control video rate. The aluminum sensors are positioned to follow the path that nerve signals are sent through the brain stem. The LED lights surrounding the brain are symbolic of brain scanning equipment and change display settings as they are moved. The vibrant colors reflect off the satin brain surface, much like how I imagine a brain lights up with signals.
The Cicada life cycle is one of constant regeneration. In Kansas, every spring they reappear. Small dime-sized holes appear in the surface of the soil near large tree roots. The males begin to sing, an orchestral production comprised of low frequencies pervades until night has come. These insects are hard to ignore when they are in search for love, but when fall comes they have all but disappeared forever.
My fascination with the Cicada began when I would visit Korea in the summertime.I asked my mother why it was that the trees would scream louder on the hottest days, and she revealed the secret of the hundreds of cicadas within. She called them Maemi, and told me they were angry because they became too hot. In Korea, the names for creatures are usually phonetic matches to the sound they make. Maemi maemi maaaaemi.
When I moved a lot as a child, I learn to find similarities in my environment and learn more about those topics. For me, the Cicada is symbolic; the unforgettable sound of summer across the world. In many asian cultures, the alien-looking creatures are imbibed with themes of rebirth, immortality, and spiritual realization.
Through my research of the Cicada, I became interested with the significance of the human-insect relationship. Why is it that these creatures are objects of fear? Insects are integral to the life cycles of the earth. They remove decay so that new life may form, a thankless job. Yet, it is considered negative to feel “as insignificant as an ant”. I then began to focus on the cognitive dissonance present in the relationship between our antennaed counterparts, and us.
What began as a project to simulate an interaction between one person and an electronic cicada, became a symbol of the human-insect relationship as a whole. Through gentle touch the Cicada can communicate the interests of all insects. My interactive art installation depicts scenes of people and insects in natural and tranquil states. The viewer is invited to interact with a plush cicada in a sensitive manner. If the viewer decides to become too forceful with the Cicada, it will sound a distress call and destruction will ensue. The happy images of people and insects will become warped, and the Cicada’s song will become chaotic. Once a peak threshold value is triggered, the Cicada will die.
After a moment of silence, the song of the Cicada will return.. The death of the Cicada is a chance to learn, a chance for the human-insect relationship to be reborn.
Interface:
Closed Wing
Open WIng
Wing Detail
Face Detail
Video Screenshots:
Still from unmanipulated videoStill influenced by sensorStill influenced by sensorStill influenced by sensorStill influenced by sensor
The Cicada is an activated object that is centered around interactivity. The bug is at rest until it is disturbed by touch. This bug is meant to be irresistible, necessary to touch. Cicadas are cacophonous creatures which may explain why when I spot one that is silent and unmoving, I feel implored to see if it’s alive, or if it’s even real. I don’t know why I feel it necessary to touch their hardened backs until they are uncomfortable enough to respond. A gentle touch is ignored but a certain amount of pressure can activate the cicada’s distress call.
This preliminary sketch shows how the Cicada would react when touched. The LED eyes are a subtle indicator of a response, and is meant to encourage the viewer to press harder. Once a threshold value of force is reached, the Cicada responds with an intense reaction of shaking, screaming, and opening its wings. If the device were fully realized, it would spook the person who touched it.
Process:
I knew that I would need a force sensor and 2 LEDs when I started. I began by wiring the 3 elements into the breadboard. Once I had them positioned, I then began the process of coding. I wasn’t sure how I would produce sound, but I learned that a piezo sensor could be used as an output, much like a speaker. The breadboard looks like so:
The coding process began with researching how other people have used the piezo sensor. I found a tutorial for coding the piezo to play a melody and tried to get it to work. Once the sound played through the arduino, I messed with the code to change the frequency of the melody. I then added the sensor as an input for changing the brightness of 2 LEDs. Once the lights changed as gradually as I desired, I then shifted focus back to the piezo. I wanted to trigger the melody once the force sensor reached a threshold, when the LEDs were at their brightest. I simply took the function called playtone() and put it inside an if loop. I experimented with different threshold values to make sure the sound wasn’t activated too early. The final code is a mixture of knock and melody tutorials:
Overall the project was successful. The only hiccup was that there was a tradeoff in how loud the piezo was, because of higher frequencies producing quieter sounds. In the future I would attempt to add a shaking feature, and replace the sound with an actual recording of a cicada distress call that is played through a more powerful speaker. This would allow the tone to actually match the cicada’s call without sacrificing decibels. Perhaps I would create an element of movement using more complex pieces of Arduino stuff.
Switching the Voltage and ground connections had no effect on the blinking of the led. The Potentiometer simply had to be turned the opposite direction in order to speed/slow the blinking. Any parameter that can be changed on an LED can be changed through the potentiometer. This includes vibrancy.
Part 3 wasn’t really successful for me. I tried using a debounce example to define a double click but that didn’t work. The I went to Jeff’s Arduino Blog to see if I could get someone else’s code to function and that didn’t work either.
Qualitatively discussing the aesthetics of interactivity is rarely done, so the article attempts to act as a guide. Independent re-creation slowed down the development of interactive art, in exchange for a space of free invention. Artists had to work much harder in the past, but the accessibility of technology bundles, like the Arduino, have allowed the artists to push deeper into technology. Sensorial Immediacy is something that must be researched further, in order for the digital to break into the boundaries of the real world. It is interesting to consider that the keyboard and mouse act as inputs still to this day. I’m waiting for some kind of eye tracking camera to replace the mouse.
The author addresses an interesting notion in validating the artist’s use of ‘slight of hand’ to affect temporal immediacy. I’ve been thinking of ways that input can seem to affect the output in a way that isn’t quite direct. Its like a ‘close door’ button in an elevator that seems to make the door close faster, but in reality is a false button.
The difference between lay and Virtuousic systems has almost vanished due to the highly skilled nature of the average person in regards to interacting with the digital world. Imagine all the complex features of facebook, and how the most computer-illiterate can use it.
Tangible Bits
The connection between the physical environment and cyberspace is seen as an important bridge that needs to become more developed. I agree that graphical output, in video games such as GTA V, tends to garner focus from developers of virtual worlds. They harness intense rendering of details, but neglect the fact that the input is still based off of pressing buttons on a controller. The Human Machine Interface must be developed on the input side. Tangible UI seems to be the most readily achievable technology, sensors on real life objects could communicate directly to a virtual world involving different worlds. The AmbientROOM could lead to developing a room that has inputs for every object or movement within it.
For this exercise, I chose a handheld Jackpot Slot game. This game was made some time in the 90s, and I remember my parents playing it well before facebook games became the norm.
I experimented with changing the pitch of the game’s sound by using resistors and my body. The most interesting sound was created by touching different points nearest to the large black blob. The resistors of the circuit connect to these points, which alter the pitch of the sound. When the touch is changed minimally, a wobbling pitch can be created, with dynamic frequencies.
I did a terrible job documenting this exercise, but I have some images of how I set up some LED configurations.
PART 1
Hooking up an LED was successful. The breadboard can be a little confusing.
PART 2
The rate of the LED light was changed by altering the sum inside the delay function.
PART 3
New integer definitions allow multiple LEDs to become lit.
PART 4
Succession is created by a delay in between when each LED is turned on/off.
PART 5
I wanted to use Morse code to repeat the word “WOW.” One unit is equivalent to a second. Dots are therefore one second, while dashes are three seconds long. Each LED flashes one letter. There are 3 units between letters, and 7 between words.
PART 6
I will use Max/MSP since I am not well versed in any other programming environment. I am also interested the the iOS apps that work with the arduino. A touch interface seems like a time saver.
Patricia Melton DX Media 