Interactive Installation

Clearing

concept

embodying individuals' subjective time

Durée is an interactive installation about subjective sense of time. Time, according to Bergson in his famous work Time and Free Will, should be a qualitative multiplicity instead of a quantitative one that is solely for utilitarian purposes. I am envisioning my project to be an interactive installation that can, if possible, reify the concept of “Durée” in Bergson’s words while it both embodies the qualitative and the quantitative aspect of time. Thus the clock I am constructing has its hand move according to the
user’s physicality

experience

heart beat time

The idea is to let each participant count 60 seconds and see how their subjective sense of time is different from the standard time, and evaluate the level of agency and multiplicity one possess regarding the quantitative and qualitative aspect of time .

On the physical installation, by pressing the finger on the pulse sensor, audience can see the clock hands move according to their heart beat. The LEDs inside also blinks following the pace of their heart pulse.

Next to the physical installation, the monitor's screen shows the step-by-step instructions of the experience. Also by pressing the space-bar key on the laptop, the participant can see the standard seconds movement on top of the movement of their heartbeat.

code wise

arduino | asynchronous & synchronous communication

To accomplish this, I used Arduino with a pulse sensor, a stepper motor and 6 LEDs on a breadboard. The pulse sensor reads the participants' pulses and send the information to the Arduino while the motors and LEDs act with each pulse. The hexagonal prism is made out of acrylic boards. The Arduino also communicates with p5 on the laptop through web-serial in order to trigger the interactions on screen.

In terms of fabrication, I wanted to make something more dynamic than a cube so I decided to make a pentagonal prism. Aesthetically I am inspired by Olafur Eliasson and Sarah Sze. As for the interior, I want to expose the circuits and wiring to the audience, for I think the web-like structure of it can also be a metaphor of today’s informational media world.