Week 3: The Placebo Project

Page 1



Ge Wang, Ocarina application for iphone



GPS Table, Placebo Project, 2001


Raymond Loewy, ca. 1948


Marcel Wanders, Knotted Chair, 1995


Philippe Starck, Juicy Salif, 1990



Karim Rashid, 2008


Compass Table, Placebo Project, 2001


“Electro‐draught
Excluder,”
Placebo
Project,
2001

Once electronic objects enter people’s homes, they develop private lives, or at least ones that are hidden from human vision. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this life when objects interfere with each other, or malfunction. Many people believe that mobile phones heat up their ears, or feel their skin tingle when they sit near a TV . . . [w]e are not interested in whether these stories are true or scientific, but we are interested in the narratives people develop to explain and relate to electronic technologies, especially the invisible electromagnetic waves their electronic objects emit.


“Electro‐draught
Excluder,”
Placebo
Project,
2001

Designers cannot always solve problems, we cannot switch off the vast electromagnetic networks surrounding us all. Although we cannot change reality, we can change people’s perception of it.


The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays. Visible light, which makes up only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, is the only electromagnetic radiation that humans can perceive with their eyes



Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.