breathing pavilion comprised a 30-foot circle of 20 nine-foot two-tone illuminated inflatable columns. these columns slowly modulated in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. visitors were invited to breathe in time with the changing light and attune themselves to a shared rhythm of respite.
created in the context of the covid-19 pandemic and systemic racial injustice in the united states, breathing pavilion offered sanctuary at a time of intense hardship and loss, suggested a paradigm shift towards communion and meditative stillness, and created an accessible space of reprieve when the act of breathing itself is under siege.
week 9
the prototype objective needs improvement
descriptive
i continued thinking of my final prototype and its effectiveness in dealing with burnout. i
thought of the different sounds that would affect people’s emotions. the emotions associated to
burnout would be calmness, anxiety. burnout makes people feel helpless, hopeless, and resentful.
thus i tried to look into some sounds that would combat these negative emotions, in order for
people to feel better while working on creative projects.
there should already be existing projects that deal with these issues, so i tried looking into
some installations, case studies that would give me some inspiration, or link me to research on
these subjects. limiting these to audio installations would probably not help, so i kept it
open, and researched on visual projects as well. there was one that caught my eye, which was the
breathing pavilion by ekene ijeoma. the idea was really simple, but it seemed very appropriate,
and brought people together at a time of need and comfort.
i was still at a creative block with my sound machine, honestly, and looking at other projects
which dealt with mental wellness were making me want to explore other senses as well. my next
step would be finding little experiments of these new senses that i want to explore.
analytical
most of these examples i could find were installations and exhibitions. it made sense, taking care of mental health did require an individual to take care of their health, mind and body. some of these exhibitions required a community as well, which i thought was really interesting, as oftentimes, people suffered alone if they were feeling down mentally.
as tempting as it may seem to create something that would bring people together, i don’t know how i would carry out user testing for my prototype. due to this, i think i would be sticking to doing individual experiences of burnout as it would probably work better given my skills. also, people suffering from burnout often isolate themselves. i don’t think a burnout remedy would work if many people had to participate at once.
so i was looking to express burnout in a way that would
- be a sensory experience
- have visual elements
- have audio elements
- be able to calm someone down / take them to another state mentally when they felt burnout
- scale of the prototype unconfirmed: spatial experience? a handheld device? wearable device? something that can be placed on the table top
- tone of project unconfirmed
i think there are a lot of elements to consider for this, so i’ll first come up with a more concrete moodboard for the project, and decide what i really hope users will feel while using my prototype. i think it might be different from my initial outcome, and i might have to tweak my subtitle so that it’s more applicable to my final prototype.
reflective
i thought the sound machine was going further away from what i had initially planned on tackling, so i really wanted to tweak it such that the experience was more fit for my research. i might have to change the way i produce audio as well, as i don’t think my beat machine is working very well. it has been quite difficult trying to produce sounds using objects i find everyday. also, after analysing different prototypes that others have done before, i don’t think that i have the skill to do what they had done. i had to be honest to myself, and change the scope of my experiments. hopefully my project will progress better.
with this, i will have to start off by looking for theories on connecting visuals and emotion, some technology to link my ideas together. my literature currently only covers the sound portion of the project, and also some theories that would help with coming up with ways of dealing with burnout.
other than this, my mind has drifted off into looking for alternative ideas for dealing with burnout as well. in a different approach from what i’m currently doing maybe. i kind of want to convey my burnout remedies in a different tone. the creation of an experience has a more serious tone right now, dealing with burnout directly. i don’t know if this sort of tone appeals to people feeling burnt out. i will have to do some user testing and see. but i’m keeping my mind and eyes open to expressing my research in a different format which takes on a lighter tone.
i don’t really know how that would turn out, however, will i end up with two different prototypes?
conclusion
i got covid this week lol no consult for me. as an infp, i enjoyed the few days in my room alone very much even if my body was suffering < 3
narrow down what i plan on having as an outcome
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