DDot

The pair I chose was ephemeral/tangible

Ephemeral: lasting for a very short time

Tangible: perceptible by touch

Why?

The pair was inspired by the fields of snow. When my plane was about to land, I peeked outside of the window, and saw the usual landscape now covered with a white fabric. The snow was certainly beautiful, but what really pulled out my attention was the imprint of human activities. My cousin and I would play soccer on the snowfield later that day. 

While playing, I began to notice our imprint of the snowfield, once smooth, now had been stabbed with the running and wrestling of human activity. Snow is ephemeral, melting away with the sun, however is also tangible in the moment. The imprints on the snow is also ephemeral, and a recording of one connecting tangibly with the snow. 

I began to think about how to make something ephemeral more permanent.

Reflection

As I paid more attention to the imprints, I reflected back to a past observation. Before campus maintenance in my school could scrape off the snow, people created their own tracks by walking continuously on the same area, and what would happen is an unconscious composition created from the snowfield.

I have been working on projects existing in liminal spaces, so I began to think about the essence of these imprints on snow. There is a sculptural quality from people stepping on the snow naturally that I like. I would like to say each step we take in the snow is a unique handmade print. The prints, while mundane, are a temporary recording of one’s journey from A to B. 

Another observation I have is the overlap of human footprints “the space that we share with strangers.” 

Personal

My life revolves around the act of temporary living. While having a home where I can always come, most of my time revolves around flowing around this space of what is coming to an end. The end of boarding school, the end of summer, leaving home for another semester. The act of leaving is something that is built into my life.

In my daily life, it is always a constant process of going from point A to point B, and I often forget about the path to get to those points. What this would result in is me being unaware of the time I spend traveling. I zoned out while being on the bus, sleeping on the plane, and pacing quickly going to the next class. 

Purpose

  Given the imprints on the snow act as a temporary recording of one’s path from A to B, I want to turn this temporary recording into something more noticeable, and permanent. Another goal that I strive to achieve is to bring more awareness to “the space that we share with strangers,” as this could help people become more compassionate.

Audience’s intention

I am choosing to create an interactive, contributory project, where the viewers record, and create a permanent recording of their unique journeys. Hopefully, from the project, the participants gain an appreciation for their journeys and see the steps they take in another positive light. 

Targeted audience

The instruction sheet is designed to be understandable for people of all ages. The project is about the audience answering from their own experiences, which they know best.

Interaction’s goal

The interaction goal is to be simple while personal. It also has to be accessible and obtainable. For that, I am creating an instruction sheet showing the audience what to do. 

The reason is that I have learned that participation in the project will be easier if there is a certain constraint. With constraint, participants are more likely to contribute, knowing what to do. 

Another thing that I considered was how to make the audiences more willing to contribute by showing how their participation will benefit the project as a whole. 

Material explanation

For the project, I am using cardboard and yarn. Besides being easy to obtain materials, it also fits the overall theme of the project and my connection with past use of material(yarn).

The instruction sheet allows the audience to create by themselves. I was thinking about how to make the entry point as low as possible and thought about cardboard boxes that one often gets from online shopping. In a way, the cardboard boxes have their unique journey from the warehouse to our house. By cutting a piece from the boxes and using it for the art project, one is not only giving the box a new purpose but also recording a unique journey.

Yarn, on the other hand, focuses on the action of wrapping. While long lines of yarn represent a journey, the wrapping of yarn represents the state of moving. By wrapping yarn, and through each word or phrase that participants covered, they go through an ephemeral experience, where the words once associated with a memory are now hidden.

Displaying of the project

I see the first display of my project as a test run to check how understandable the instruction sheet is. There will also be documentation of pieces made following the instructions. After the testing phase, I will start to reach a wider audience.

As an interactive project, the project will evolve over time. For the first installment, the pieces connected together were a mixture of journey recorders made by me and my first group of participants. The intention of connecting all the pieces together was to show how individual recorders come together to become something bigger, similar to the overlapping of footsteps creating a path in the snow. The connection between the objects is further enhanced through the use of projection, laying over the surface like snow. In the end, creating a colorful sculpture representing the diversity of the people who walk a shared path.

My process

Normally, I start with an intuitive idea that pops up in my head. This will lead to further exploration of the idea, see how it connects to me, and to what I have been doing so far. I find writing as a useful tool to put my abstract thoughts into words, and visuals as a way to test different configurations.