Bloom

glimmering sounds Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Concept Bloom allows people to live an extraordinary experience in one of the most beautiful and quiet places in Venice.

They become orchestra directors: their musicians are ripples and their instruments projected water lilies.

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

More details Everyone that arrives in the jetty, creates a kind of waterlily and plays with it creating ripples from the jetty. Then the lilies float and slowly go away, fading off during the night.

step 1

Someone arrives, and a new waterlily appears in front of him/her.

step 2

The sensors under the stones sense the person pressure on them and send an input that creates ripples depending on the position.

step 3

The waterlily reacts musically when is hit by the ripples, and also creates a new ripple.

step 4

Then the others lilies react too and start ringing and creating new ripples, creating a beautiful sound pattern.

step 5

When a new person arrives, he or she will see the lilies that people create before him/her, and making them sound will make them live again.

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Context Where

Our installation is thought to be set in the new residential zone in Canareggio.

The yellow buidings have sorts of jetty which overlooks the water without any barriers. People who stands there, can see the Ponte della Libertà, Porto Marghera, Mestre, the airport and, farther, the islands of Murano and Burano.

It is one of the most beautiful place in Venice, far from the noise and the flux of the tourists. Its silence is interrupted only by the passage of a “vaporetto” or a private boat.

There are many lights that are reflected on the water, drawings different shapes and colours: they are the lamps of the three “briccole” in front of the jetties, the lights of the airport and the streetlamps on the Ponte della Libertà.

When

Since our installation’s main part is the projection on the water, it will work only during the dark hours in the nights: from the sunset till the dawn.

Users

Usually this zone in Venice is populated by couples, people who gets lost and the inhabitants of the new buildings.

We think that this installation could attract more visitors, romantic or not, because also a skeptical person would get breathless seeing this beautiful place, in which our installation aims to become part of the environment.

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Prototype The aim for the prototype was building a real pool and a little jetty, all made by plywood 1cm high. The pool, 250Ă—200 cm, needed 2 hands of normal paint and 4 hands of water-based enamel paint in order to make it waterproof (never blend water based painting with solvent based ones) To built the jetty we design something where you can stand confortable with both of your feet, and play at the same time with the switch. The jetty was a semicircle with a diameter of 120cm.

The jetty doesn’t need the same treatment of the pool, so 1 hand of normal paint plus 2 hand of enamel are enough to make it resistent to the

water.

To recognize the presence of a person and his/her position on the jetty, we used pressure sensors.

These are composed by two sheet of aluminum separated by a piece of insulating sponge rubber.

Pressure sensors are numbered and placed on the platform. Livewires are welded and passed through six different pods on the platform (see the picture below).

When the two aluminium sheets touch each other, they send a input to the Arduino board.

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Credits Designed by Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Documentation: Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Sound design: Nicola Plaisant

Thanks also to Luca De Rosso, Francesco Fraioli and Davide Cocchi for the musical insights and to Passage of Time’s team for the fabric and for everyone that shares with us tools, photos and videos.

Graphic design: Laura Bordin Study and choice of technology: Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant Prototype realization (basin and jetty): Nicola Plaisant special thanks to Matteo Torcinovich + Filippo Mastinu Prototype realization (pressure sensors): Benito Condemi de Felice Processing code: Laura Bordin special thanks to Durrel Bishop + Tom Hulbert + Davide Rocchesso + Pietro Polotti Arduino code: Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant special thanks to Durrel Bishop + Tom Hulbert Hardware settings: Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Laura Bordin + Benito Condemi de Felice + Nicola Plaisant

Biographies Laura Bordin (1984) (project: BLOOM) took her Diploma at the Liceo Scientifico Sperimentale (Experimental Science High School) in 2003. In 2006 she graduated in Visual and Performing Arts at IUAV University of Venice, where her a thesis was Tim Stark and David Mamet: Riflessioni sulla recitazione [Reflections on Acting]. In 2007 she also took four Visual Communcation courses in the Industrial Design programme. She is now attending IUAV’s graduate programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication. Her main current interests are events organization and associated graphics, and in 2007 she co-organized Teach Me 4, Venice’s Festival of Visual Communication.

Contact: laurabordin[at]gmail[dot]com

Benito Condemi de Felice (project: BLOOM) I was born in Locri, Calabria, in 1983. I studied Industrial Design in La Sapienza University, Rome, where my thesis was Cultural Assets and New Technologies. From September to December 2007, I was an intern at H-umus, the interaction design company located near Treviso, and I have collaborated with BigRock, the graphic art and 3D graphics company. Interests: graphic, interaction, Web and 3D video design. Contact: www.webenito. net. bcondemi[at]yahoo[dot]it, bedesign[at] webenito[dot]net

Nicola Plaisant (project: BLOOM) I live in Mestre, in the mainland of Venice. I gained an Industrial Design degree at IUAV University of Venice.

In summer 2007 I attended the Index summer camp at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Interests: drawing, painting, videogames, photography, sustainable design, interaction design and multimedia design. Please look at my website and youtube page.

http://www.interaction-venice.com/projects/iuav0708Lab2/projects/bloom/

video (canale youtube: webenito):

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_itJggUcmDU

Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tailsnap/ set: BLOOM | IuavIxDLab2-2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bedesign/ set: Bloom