Project #1
February 19, 2018
HARVARD GSD 02484: INTERDISCIPLINARY ART AND DESIGN PRACTICES SPRING 2018
Instructors: Silvia Benedito
Pamphlet #1
THE (s)NOW GLOBE
Author: Mengfei Wang Collaborator: Agatha Park
The Interdisciplinary Art and Design Practices seminar investigates the exploratory character of art and design work in the interdisciplinary modalities of the contemporary culture. In the present context, where artists and designers must respond to challenges of global magnitudes, engage with cross-cultural in often conflicting conditions, and operate in disparate economic and societal realms, the demands for increased disciplinary adaptability and collaboration are paramount.
1) PROJECT STATEMENT:
The (s)Now Globe is a sculptural projection piece that builds a link between the present day issue of air pollution and daily consumerism. A clip of a factory site crafted from stock footages and images, and a footage of a real factory site is projected onto a spherical container filled with hand sanitizer liquid. The video is projected onto the front and back of the spherical container by two projectors, in order to fill the whole object surface with moving images. Audio of factories and construction sites is played during the projection. The audience may pump the (s)Now Globe to cleanse their hands during the projection. As the (s)Now Globe is used, the liquid level falls and the video is no longer visible. In this project, the concept of the snow globe is used as a representative means, as it is an object that portrays air: Snowflakes float in this enclosed space as if in the air. Furthermore, we treat the snow globe as a specimen of fantasy, as it contains representations of perfect scenes and imaginary figures. With these traits in mind, we attempt to bring the reality of air pollution into the object by taking advantage of how air is represented in some snow globes by a liquid. By turning the snow globe into a hybrid hand sanitizer dispenser, the snow globe is hyperobject-ified. The scene depicted on the globe is no longer in a fantasy world by itself, as it is purged into our reality and seeps into our skin. Through this technique, we try to make trite images of air pollution immediate to us. In this time and age, we are aware of air pollution and understand what causes it, but still majorly rely on electricity that is generated from fossil fuels. About 65% of utility-scale electricity generation in the United States was produced from fossil fuels2. The (s)Now Globe tries to remind the audience about the nervous network of production and consumption that we often forget about in our daily lives. The (s)Now Globe is also an embodiment of the irony of how the icons of contamination and pollution produce items to keep us clean. We try to ask: is washing really an act of cleansing? 2 U.S. Department of Energy https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_united_states
1) The Snow Globe
2) The Specimen (John Baker)
An isolated timeless world with perfect scenes inside and imaginary figures people always want to memorize.
Specimens from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s spirit collection, which preserves plants in fluid.
3) The Reality: Air Pollution
4) The Air Pollution Globe
The real world is not a fantasy as been shown in the snow globe, but rather a in a serious situation with air pollution.
What should be represent in the snow globe? A fairy-tale world that everyone want to be indulged in or a cruel reality that warn people of the serious air situation?
2) CRITICAL REFLECTION:
“People were not aware of the existence and the importance of the air until it was threatened” ---This is my conclusion when I finished reading TERROR FROM THE AIR by Peter Sloterdijk. It also made me thinking how much people would like to get themselves indulged in the fantasy to deliberately escape from the cruel reality as they build micro-landscape inside the snow globe. Illusions may work, but only for a moment or a short period. The indulging in illusions could even impede people from take actions to save the situation before it goes irreversible. “The flower continues to exude its fragrance, but we lose the ability to smell it.” ---This is a heart-broken moment that no one wants to experience. But it happened in the past and it still happens nowadays in different areas around the world. Things that do not exist in front of your eyes do not mean they do not happen at all. Maybe the snow globe could also be a way to reveal the reality to people, alarm them, urge them to embrace the current moment and take actions to prevent the terrible scene inside the globe coming true. In this sense, the snow globe becomes the now globe. Having a meaningful concept is not enough for an excellent artwork. We need to find a manifestation to take away people ‘s breathes. I abandoned the idea to fill the globe with small particles because we could never mimic motion of air pollution as the way to mimic snowflakes. In contrast, by video projection we could catch the hints of smoke motion and the real scenes of air pollution emitting process such as different industrial production. With advanced surface mapping technique, we were able to enchant the globe, make it like a window through which people could observe both the crafted collage and the real industrial scenes, with the real industrial noise playing simultaneously. This manifestation is striking enough to attract attention. Both of us were extremely excited about it. We even felt surprised
when the audience commented that our work shocked him to think of a crystal globe telling a disaster future. This is the effect we want to achieve. I also love my collaborator Agatha Park’s idea to transform the snow globe to a hand sanitizer dispenser, which exert greater influence by linking it to people’s daily behavior---Cleaning the hands. Therefore, the (s)Now Globe becomes a hyper-object that is viscous to everyone. The ironic metaphor of clean hands and polluted air leads people to reflect the good and evil sides of industry. However, there were some unexpected problems. We could not find two projectors with same small size and focal distance. Neither could we design a device to hide both of projectors because of the limited time and unpredictability what kind of projector we could borrow the next day. The presentation ended up with two projectors placed diagonally on a long table, exposed under people’s eyes, and sandwiched the (s)Now Globe in the middle. I hope the (s)Now Globe can be shown at every corner where a hand sanitizer is provided freely to everyone, so that it could briefly remind them of the tiny invisible poisonous particles in the air, trigger them to look at the world in a realistic way and contemplate the role of themselves.
1) Jiuzhaigou One of the most famous tourist attractions in China.
2) River with Floating Garbage An horrible place that on one ever would like to visit.
3) PROCESS:
Part I: The projection (i) Video Making: the video clip is composed by both a factory site crafted from stock footages and images, and a footage of a real factory site. (ii) Projection Technique: during testing, we used a professional software called Qlab to adjust video to a spherical surface by remapping the grid; For the final presentation, we simplified the method by editing the video with After Effect, distorting and limiting it within a circular mask, then projecting it directly on the spherical surface. Part II: The sculpture (i) Spherical Dispenser Choosing: To achieve a clear projecting effect, we tested two spherical glass dispenser with different surface qualities: one with smooth transparent surface, the other with frosted translucent surface. (ii) Hand Sanitizer: We mixed transparent hand sanitizer and white moisturizer evenly to produce a white screen on the transparent surface for projection; we filled the translucent dispenser with only transparent hand sanitizer. After testing, the transparent dispenser with mixed hand sanitizer inside achieved a clearer projecting effect in the dark surroundings in the evening while the translucent dispenser with pure hand sanitizer inside functions better in the dim daylight. Therefore, the selection of dispenser depends on the lighting of the environment where the project is installed.
1) Two spherical glass dispensers with different surface qualities
2) Mix transparent hand sanitizer with white moisturizer
3) A spherical liquid dispenser, a globe pedestal, a projector, a laptop with Qlab installed
4) Remap the grid and project to spherical surface
5) The video clip sequence
6)The (s)Now Globe
4) MEDIUM | FORMAT :
MEDIUM: The (s)Now Globe is comprised of two mediums: found object sculpture and video projection. The sculptural body is made up of a spherical liquid dispenser, a globe pedestal, and hand sanitizer. A sphere globe made of transparent glass, or a glass globe of matte finish is used depending on the site of installation. The dispenser pump is made of plastic with a metallic finish. We purchased two spherical liquid dispensers from Amazon for this project. The globe pedestal is made of rubber with an inside weight support. In the case where the spherical globe is transparent, a moisturizer+hand sanitizer liquid such as PurellÂŽ Hand Sanitizer Moisture Therapy is used, and when the matte sphere globe is used, any common transparent hand sanitizer is used. The selection of globe depends on the lighting of the environment where the project is installed.
FORMAT: The full dimension of the sculptural aspect of the project is 4x4x10 inches. The sphere in which the video is projected onto is a 4x4 inch sphere. The video projected onto the sphere is a quicktime file that is 1280x1280 pixels in dimension and 55 seconds long for each loop. The video also has an audio that plays sounds of factories and construction sites for 50 seconds each loop. The video is looped during the whole duration of the display. During the presentation, the video was projected onto the sphere using Vivitek Qumi Q7 LED Projector and the Epson PowerLite 1720/1730W that are advanced enough to display videos onto small surfaces of 4x4 inches. SITE: The (s)Now Globe is not a site specific work, but will work best in dark curated spaces or public spaces where video projection is possible. Apart from the traditional gallery setting, it can be installed in places where hand sanitizers are originally placed such as restrooms or in public spaces like transportation hubs.
5) SITE:
1) Dark curated space
2) The corners where hand sanitizers are placed
6) BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Sloterdijk, Peter, Patton, Amy, and Corcoran, Steve. Terror from the Air. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents Series. Los Angeles : Cambridge, Mass.: Semiotext(e) ; Distributed by the MIT Press, 2009. 2. Staeck, Klaus., Steidl, Gerhard, and Beuys, Joseph. Beuys in America. New ed. Heidelberg : Göttingen: Edition Staeck ; Steidl, 1997. 3. Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects : Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. Posthumanities ; 27. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. 4. Dessauce, Marc, and Architectural League of New York. The Inflatable Moment : Pneumatics and Protest in ‘68. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. 5. “Electricity in the United States.”U.S. Department of Energy. May 10th 2017. https:// www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_united_states
7) ILLUSTRATIONS:
Front Cover
Malinda Seu, The (s)Now Globe. February 15th 2018.
Back Cover
Malinda Seu, The (s)Now Globe. February 15th 2018.
Fig. 1-1
Storyblocks / The Snow Globe
Fig. 1-2
John Baker / The Specimen
Fig. 1-3
Buyong, Lee (queen1231@hidomin.com) / The Reality: Air Pollution
Fig. 1-4
ThisIsWhyImBroke / Pollution Snow Globe
Fig. 2-1
Shijuezhongguo / Jiuzhaigou Tourist Attraction
Fig. 2-2
Sina Blog / Water Pollution
Fig. 3-1
Amazon / Glass Liquid Dispenser
Fig. 3-2
Mengfei Wang
Fig. 3-3
Mengfei Wang
Fig. 3-4
Mengfei Wang
Fig. 3-5
Mengfei Wang
Fig. 3-6
Malinda Seu, The (s)Now Globe. February 15th 2018.
Fig. 5-1
Youtube / 3D sphere projection
Fig. 5-2
Mengfei Wang / Hand sanitizer dispensers in Gund Hall
HARVARD GSD 02484: INTERDISCIPLINARY ART AND DESIGN PRACTICES SPRING 2018
Pamphlet #1
THE (s)NOW GLOBE Author: Mengfei Wang Collaborator: Agatha Park