Performative Media

PERFORMATIVE MEDIA

SED60104 Performative Media

MODULE INFORMATION

Students are exposed to new media and technological approaches to performative based spaces and installations. The implementation of the performative-based space or installation will draw upon one or several disciplines such as the performing arts, digital media, spatial interaction, anthropology, sociology, cybernetics, cognitive neuroscience and aesthetics.

Learning will be based primarily through face-to-face interaction, tutorials and progressive workshop sessions. The sessions are iterative and work towards the development of a full-scale performative media either in the spatial or installation media context. Learning will also be through a problem-based learning approach to iteratively work on the media.

Assessment will be done through a progression of iterative workshop-based sessions and will be assessed through an open-ended range of mediums such as film, art installations, animation, live presentation, soundscapes, virtual and augmented environments. It provides the foundation for creative implementation of conceptual ideas and problem-solving skills needed for the execution of performative spatial media interaction.

Project 01

" Comparative Study of Media Art Practitioners "

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this assignment is to develop our ability to synthesise multidisciplinary conceptual research by examining how international, regional, and local media art practitioners integrate diverse forms of knowledge into spatial or installation-based performative media. This investigation will inform the development of a coherent and well-structured implementation methodology for my own project in subsequent assignments.

PROGRESSION OF PREOJECT

As we were tasked to come up with a list of artists to conduct a comparative research upon, my group, consisting of Dania, Arman, Guanqi and myself, discussed on who we wanted to choose for our topic. After some deliberation on who were the most suitable artists to feature in our study, we were able to narrow down to three artists:

Nam June Paik (South Korea/USA), Ong Kian Peng (Singapore), and EEE Lab (Malaysia)

After conducting research on their design philosophy and methods, we were able to put together some slides to show and compare the differences between those three media artists.

The slides consists of and introduction to all three artists, and some comparative analysis on their methodology and equipment they use for their interactive installations. Their work also provided much insight on how users interact with their exhibits, which provided a lot of ideas for our coming project where we have to come up with concepts to our own installation.

View our comparative analysis here!

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After completing the slides, our group then came together to create a script for our presentation video. This allowed us to fully convey our learning outcomes of this project, as well as providing our final thoughts on this project.

Watch the voice-over recording of our presentation here.

View Video

REFLECTION OF PROJECT 1

Overall, this project was very insightful and gave us a good start on understanding the nature of media arts, as well as past and current trends/methods. I found it interesting how these three artists all have a very different way of expressing their art, some feeling very grand and over the top, and some installations being simple and minimal, sparking introspection in people. This project serves a baseline of reference for our concept development for the oncoming stages, guiding our ideation process.

Project 02

Concept Proposal & Early Prototyping

OBJECTIVE

In this assignment, our goal is to develop a clear and well-supported design proposal for a performative media project by translating the research insights we gathered in Assignment 1 into a defined concept. We will begin early-stage prototyping to test interaction logic, performance strategies, and identify any potential issues. This stage of the project focuses on shaping the core concept, planning iterations, and exploring interactivity through physical, augmented, or virtual environments as a foundation for the full-scale development in Assignment 3.

PROGRESSION OF PREOJECT

Moving onto the second project phase, we were tasked to come up with concepts and a design proposal for our installation. My team and I began by brainstorming a theme for our installation. As our group was very interested in wanting to create dialogue in our experience, we thought: "Why not something that prompts nostalgic memories?". After further discussion, we decided that our concept for the installation would be centered around the topic of childhood memories. We wanted our installation to not just be a fleeting experience, but to spark conversations and introspection beyond it. From that, we were able to come up with the name "Echoes of Reflection" for our installation work as well.

We then decided on elements that invoke nostalgic memories, such as traditional Malaysian snacks and games, as well as memorabilia. We then created a mood board that consists of items and topics relating to childhood memories, which then allowed us to move on to further discussion on how we wanted to proceed with designing our installaion.

After that, we also brainstormed and searched for suitable TouchDesigner effects that could be applied to our installation. As we wanted to convey abstract forms to apply to our installation, we thought that effects that responded to hand movements to create motion would be most suitable for our concept.

Guan Qi was able to come up with a list of different TouchDesigner effects that we can potentially apply to our prototype.

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Then, we moved onto sketching a concept for how our exhibit will look like and function. Everyone came up with a different way of executing the installation. As for me, I helped to come up with the idea of an ever-growing exhibit where people play, and add something onto or exhibit, building upon it to create a interlinking web of stories between people. How I thought to execute the concept was to design ornaments that people can pick to suspend on a line, slowly making our exhibit more full with each passing interaction.

After further discussion with my groupmates, we decided to choose my idea and concept to refine and prototype on.

Sketch and description on the finalised concept.

Sketches on the user interaction flow.

After making the sketches and discussing the function and intention to my group, Dania then proceeded to create a 3D model on how the installation will look like on SketchUp. This gave us a better and more refined idea on how our installation will look like in real life.

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Finally, before presenting our prototype to Mr. Zeon and Mr. Shakir, I also 3D printed the ornaments. I created the model on Sketchup, and scaled the model to an appropriate size to print for the presentation.

Prototype ornaments printed with Matte PLA plastic in white.

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View our complete presentation slides here!

View PDF

REFLECTION OF PROJECT 2

After the presentation, we received a lot of helpful feedback from Mr. Zeon and Mr. Shakir regarding our concept. Their comments were were very helpful, highlighting on the feasibility of our installation, and advising us to make tweaks in our concept to ensure that it can be set up realistically. It was a very good feedback in my opinion as it was also a concern of ours on whether the scope of our concept was too large, which might affect the outcome of our installation when we move onto the final part of the project. This gave us an opportunity to rethink on the feasibility of our project, so that we can enhance it more as we move towards the next stage.

Other than that, this project was very fun and interesting as it was very enjoyable to come up with a variety of possible ideas for our potential exhibit. Not only was I able to expand my thinking on user interaction with our work, but also gave me a higher sensitivity to creating a concept that can conform to a space with ease of deploying and uninstalling after an exhibit. This project overall highlights the importance of coming up with a concept that can be executed not just poetically, but realistically.

Project 03

Performative Spatial Media: Concept to Interaction

OBJECTIVE

In this assignment, the aim is to integrate interactive media content using TouchDesigner into a physical spatial installation. We will focus on designing interactivity that responds to specific behaviours, such as movement, sound, or light. Additionally, we will construct a modular and portable installation that can be easily deployed on-site. Throughout the process, we must ensure that both the physical and digital components work seamlessly together to support and enhance the narrative of my project.

PROGRESSION OF PREOJECT

As we move onto the final part of the project, my group heavily focused on refining our previous concept based on the feedback received to ensure that we can achieve creating an installation that is interactive and seamlessly installed on-site. We had the opportunity to visit the site of our exhibit, which is located at an exhibition space on the fourth floor of GMBB at Kuala Lumpur. This provided us a good scale and understanding of the site of where we will be installing our work, which allowed us to further finalize our spatial installation idea.

The site visit was also crucial in allowing us to know the logistics of what we need to prepare and acquire. Due to that case, we further discussed with Mr. Shakir on how we wanted to display our TouchDesigner work, which to that he suggested we use a CRT TV. It was a perfect solution to our work as not only were we able to lend one from him, it was also a piece of equipment that strongly related to our concept of nostalgia.

Next, after planning on the equipment and materials we need, our group then worked closely with Guanqi whom out of all of us in the group, is more well versed in TouchDesigner, to produce an interactive effect for our installation.

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We guided Guanqi on the idea of what type of effect we wanted to create by finding references and tutorial videos online, which gave him a better sense of what our interactive effects require.

We decided on a glitch effect combined with a text wave effect, that spells out "MEMO"; intertwining both effects together to create a feeling of an old commercial or memory.

Meanwhile the TouchDesigner effect was being produced, Dania and I prepared to set up the physical elements of our installation, which was the emotion stamps and memo wall. Since I have the 3D printer on hand, I worked on producing the emotion stamps for our group.

We started by drafting out the sketches of our stamp design, and after discussing which we like most, we created the model on SketchUp to produce a 3D model to print.

After the stamps are done printing, I created an instruction sheet as well, so that people interacting with the exhibit know the purpose and how to's.

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After we finished prepping, over the course of next 2 weeks we started setting up our installation on site. This step was crucial as we were able to know what was missing. My group was missing some equipment, such as some HDMI cables and such, to which we were able to acquire upon at Low Yat digital mall for a fair price. After ensuring that everything required is in place, we tested out our effects on-site to ensure that everything works as intended.

On 27 July, we presented our installation to Mr. Zeon and Mr Shakir on-site. We got to see how our exhibit worked with people externally interacting with it, which gave us a lot of insight on areas that can still be improved. Even so, the presentation was a success as we were able to have our Interactive Installation work without a hitch, and it was a proud feeling for my team to have been able to have our very first work exhibited in a public space.

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The final set up of "MEMO"

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View our complete presentation slides here!

View PDF

REFLECTION OF PROJECT 2

With this final project, I have finally reached the conclusion of this module. The exhibition was a great experience for me as it was such a unique and special opportunity to be able to exhibit something that I have worked on it an actual exhibit. It was very enjoyable and exciting as well to able to see all of my peers' works alongside ours, how every group had a different theme to offer. It was nothing short of a beautiful experience to see everyone's hard work, including my group, coming alive in a space.

I leave this module grateful and motivated, to apply the skills and knowledge that I have acquired into my future works. Lastly, I thank Mr. Zeon and Mr. Shakir for providing such an opportune and enriching experience to us all, and of course I am grateful to my fellow groupmates that have been a part of this journey with me. I couldn't have done it without them.