Face-to-Face
Personal Sketch in a Digital World.
Eugene Lang Of Liberal Arts, New York, NY
Albert and Vera List Academic Center, New York, NY
December 5 - 12, 2013
The performance is about an attempt to explore of the human connectedness. It presents personal inspirations and critical reflections of contemporary social issues.
I propose that personal touch/sharing via technology with an aesthetic approach will impact people’s life positively. I share my project with other people through an interactive connection in a restroom, using music, video, and an Arduino setup. I intend to convey a personal message about the vulnerable human connection in modern society.
I would like people to understand a message from my experimental setup which reflects increased self-consciousness. How can people face their oppressed emotions and meet a healing moment?
Through this interactive experimental performance, I partly learned more about human behaviors and experiences.
Final Performance
Final Performance (Edited Full Version)
Negative Response: Sound by Nookie - A Drum, A Bass & A Piano (Furney Remix)
Positive Response:
Sound by 1. Mozart - Piano Sonata in F major K.332 – Adagio 2. Human Voice - Narah Kang (My Niece)
All Gender Restroom at Albert and Vera List Academic Center, New York, NY
A restroom is a private place for everyone. We sometimes communicate secretly about someone and take any action without any intervention. This is a symbol of a place to excrete filthy or unclean things.
Prerecorded Videos: Negative Response + Positive Response
The short videos use music, voice and body movements consisting mainly of hand and facial expressions to convey a personal story.
I use visual, audible, and tactile media: Final Cut Pro X, Max, MSP & Jitter, Arduino and a Capacitance Sensor.
Arduino Set Up
In the restroom, I, the performer, will sit on a toilet seat with both feet on a copper-capacitance sensor (4x10 inches). My eyes will be covered with fabric to prevent me from seeing the audience. Headphones will also cover my ears.
A screen is placed on the wall above my head, my most personal space, using a projector.
The computer, projector, speaker, and capacitance sensor are connected to the Arduino board under my feet. The video will be projected on the screen in front of my face containing negative and positive emotions.
/The inherent meanings/
a. Restroom: A restroom is a private place for everyone. We sometimes communicate secretly about someone and take any action without any intervention.
b. Toilet Seat: This is a symbol of a place to excrete filthy or unclean things.
c. Eyes covered with fabric: This is an expression of ignoring blank eyes from other people, hiding from awkward or insincere moments, or expressions.
d. Ears covered with headphones: I attempt to show we often block ourselves from other’s judgments or comments about ourselves.
e. Main concepts from Videos and Performance: In virtual worlds, humans reveal unfiltered expressions and pour them out loudly and freely toward each other regardless of any hesitancy.
In real worlds, humans tend to be timid and introverted in silence. Our century pushes everyone to be connected constantly and gets scared and feeling lonely if not connected.
At the beginning, one of videos recorded with negative emotions plays and then will be switched to the other video recorded with positive ones when anyone touches a part of the performer’s skin. The capacitance sensor detects a change in capacitance when something or someone approaches or touches the sensor.
Performance Poster: I attached a poster at the door to inform people about my work.