CIRCLE OF LIFE
a new way to experience a story
This “Cabinet of Wonder” is part of a larger exhibition on Moldovan culture, tradition and daily life, entitled “Moldova - An Iconography of the Land and Its People” by Andriana Mereuta.
The interactive piece showcases a sliver of Moldova’s culture (holidays, ethnicities, customs, daily life, and people) in 6 photographs. These are presented in a linear form, in two different layouts, and illustrating two different stories: one lyrical (Circle of Life), and the other more literal (Life in Moldova).
The intention is to explore the power of narrative and examine how media presentation can influence our perception, understanding, and behavior. On a more intimate level, it is oriented to allow the audience learn in their own way (asking specific questions, research on their own, view other pieces in the exhibit, etc.) about Moldovan culture or universal themes illustrated in the images.
The images can be placed in the order the viewer sees fit according to their vision. Each image has a very short, literal audio caption to give a description of the image but no other context, story, or artistic name is attached to it (intentionally), so the viewer can make their own creative decision about the image and about the story they want to narrate.
“Thought of this as a circle of life. Tragedy strikes and brings people together, but there is room for celebration and new life. Life in Moldova. ”
AN EXHIBITION DESIGN PROJECT
This project is one of my favorites because I got to think and explore a story in a context of a physical space that may not be connected to the original art in any way; to consider what technology would be more appropriate to tell a more engaging story; to take into consideration the inquiries around design thinking, i.e. exhibition and experience design tailored to the audience; and finally play test an interactive media designed with a strong concept in mind and technically engaging receiving immediate feedback from my peers.
The Cabinet of Wonder is a term my Exhibition Design instructor and mentor used for our class and this project was a small representation of such a cabinet imagining it in the context of a larger exhibition on the theme. To me, exhibition design is magic! It is a way to think bigger taking our human stories to new realms and larger audiences, and then using technology - imagining the impossible of how to best share the message so we can be in service of the work and ‘touch’ more people, and then find the ways to create it into reality.
As an artist and storyteller, this process is an engaging exercise that augments my photographic practice in new ways. I tried to bring a sliver of my photo world in this exhibition design exercise and it is my deepest intention to continue to expand in these new innovative ways to share not only my story but stories of my community and the world of which we all make part.
concept development
Big Idea Statement:
What concept do you want your exhibit to tackle? What narrative do you want to express? What story do you want to tell?
This “Cabinet of Wonder” is part of a larger exhibition on Moldovan culture, tradition and daily life, entitled “Moldova - An Iconography of the Land and Its People.” The interactive piece will showcase a sliver of Moldova’s culture (holidays, ethnicities, customs, daily life, and people) in 6 photographs. These will be presented in a linear form, in two different layouts, and illustrating two different stories: one lyrical, and the other more literal. The intention is to explore the power of narrative and examine how media presentation can influence our perception, understanding, and behavior. On a more intimate scale, it is oriented to allow the audience learn in their own way (asking specific questions, research on their own, other pieces in the exhibit, etc.) about Moldovan culture or universal themes illustrated in the images.
Experiential Framework:
interactive/ contemplative
educational
dynamic
creating
individual/ group
What do people see, do and feel?
-see images about Moldova
-arrange the images into different narratives to make their own story
-feeling curiosity and play; experiencing a personal approach to learning - by asking questions of personal interest not knowledge imposed on them; an invitation to reflect on topics beyond photography or Moldovan culture, common humanity, and creativity.
Exhibit Goals:
What do you want people to see, do, learn, or otherwise take away from your exhibit/museum? In what way do you want to inspire your audience?
People will get to learn a little about Moldovan culture purely through the visuals (x6) and the narrative the images build as a collective. The captions will be stating the obvious, information about what the image is about or my interpretation of it won’t be provided. The intention is to let the viewer build their own meaning from what they see and experience, without being told what to make of it.
This exhibit piece is an invitation for the audience to question what they see and the lessons they take away from it, what is presented and what is imposed, what are facts and what are opinions, to question the source as well as the information provided, to trust their own process and ability to discern, and last but not least, to learn by inquiring and posing those questions that are specific to their interest and curiosity.
The last one I believe is a more personal approach to learning and this piece would only serve as a seed in the audience’s mind to spark the curiosity to learn either about:
-Moldova;
-universal themes such as love, birth, death, meaning of life, cycle of life, religion or culture;
-see their own story through the story of others (common humanity);
-serve as an inspiration without following any narrative at all.
The Opportunity: Two of the layouts will be predetermined. A third option is to allow visitors to arrange their own story based on their creative ideas. Possibly that would spark other possibilities to interpret what is seen.
Audience:
Who will come to this exhibit/museum? Age group? Locals or tourists? Is this for multiple people or an individual?
The exhibition is designed for:
teens and adults mainly (no children);
higher ed students - learning about media, psychology, culture, history, the world;
professionals and educators;
artists;
locals (urban areas) and tourists visiting the city;
diaspora, other nationalities (not for Moldovans specifically but they could also partake in the experience).
Possible ways to achieve the experience goals through design and execution:
The first idea is to use RFID sensors. They will hold the information with the short caption and when placed in their respective holders.
choose 6 images from Moldova’s culture and record voice over.
use conductor tape to activate the motion or pressure sensor to activate the voice;
-use rfed sensors - same that are used in our id cards - the info is sent to arduino
-sd card or chips from adafruit/amazon
-the sensor holds information and it plays it out based on conditionals… if pic one hits this sensor it activates this voice recording, pic 2 - voice 2
Design Considerations:
2 narratives in linear form; offer the option for audience construct their own narrative;
box like prototype (cardboard) to imitate a magnetic board as in a “newsroom” or a frame on the wall;
have a set table so visitors could play with the arrangement before placing them in the holders.
Design Process
Caption: Sketch of the prototype layout.
Describe/sketch a design of 1-3 experiences someone would have in your Cabinet:
engaging the audience into play and curiosity by inviting them to become the curator of the Cabinet of Wonder and narrate the story
have a recording device for people to share their vision and imagination, impressions and interpretations, wishes and curiosities - stored in a memory box. This could be another piece in the Cabinet. Maybe this exhibit could be shown to Moldovan people and/or Diaspora who know their story and have two different perspectives (an insider and outsider). The idea is to create an archive of creative imagination and storytelling through the eyes of the audience and collect, store, use the data for a study or have an auxiliary art piece / experience with visitor’s stories to play back to the audience. The goal is to investigate if our perception is unique to who we are (individual) and open to other creative ideas, or to see if we share a degree of universality in the way we experience the world (collective). This will achieve the interaction of visitors across time / space and the story can outlive the exhibitthat created it.
learn by asking the questions they are personally interested in finding out about Moldova, perhaps interactive iPads or AR with backstories on Moldova’s traditions, holidays, ethnicities, family structures, customs, daily life, and people
background sound and ambiance to create an immersive environment to help the visitor relate to the stories.
What’s the name?
What’s the come-on slogan, advertising line? What’s the visual identity of the exhibit? Does the exhibit design incorporate all/most of the elements of your Experience Manifesto?
- Moldova through YOUR imagination -
Visual Identity/Mood board:
Earthy, natural colors representing Moldova’s landscape (walnut, wheat, nature).
Visual references:
Source: Google Image Search
Source: Google Image Search
prototyping
Caption: Used RF IDs to trigger the audio, each image had a card identifier matched with the image caption; and used serial communication to program the Arduino to the P5 sketch.
Caption: Fabrication and design decisions for a working prototype. Used cardboard and decided to place the reader on the bottom to make it more intuitive for the user. For the images, I used both Photoshop (for framing) and Illustrator (for printing).
Caption: Used Illustrator to prepare the files for the laser cut and painted the cardboard with Acrylic paint. Each image was backed up with cardboard for a more solid feel and a tie line hook for easier placement/handling of the card.
Caption: Final prototype with 6 (six) images.
They can be placed in the order the viewer sees fit according to their vision. Each image has a very short, literal audio caption to give a description of the image but no other context, story, or artistic name is attached to it (intentionally), so the viewer can make their own creative decision about the image and about the story they want to construct.
The project is an invitation to explore the power of the narrative, how that plays out in our experience, and creates a world on its own. An investigation I’m interested from a mindfulness perspective (our beliefs, life experiences, perceptions create our worldview) yet weaving this with my storytelling project on Moldova.
The question is - Who is the real artist? What is the purpose of it? And is art an invitation for everyone to see a part of their self (thinking, being, feeling)?
Also, to have a more discriminative mind and instead of accepting the presentation as truth - whether is our story or someone else’s, to investigate and see it as only a relative truth. The Buddha and the elephant analogy.
Thinks to consider:
memory is a fractured repository, partly true / partly fictional
beliefs - conditioned / biased
time - gives distance and perspective
space - being exposed to other realities you get to see the same world in a different ways
personal experience - makes it so
media / presentation of information - forms our perception
Feedback:
Your voice is so grounding (Alina) and the images are powerful;
Really great work Andi, it’s a strong concept (Emily);
Really love your work Andi (Anna);
I really love your work Andi (Han) and the narrative, the way you present it, it’s really touching and even if it’s about your country it makes me interested in it, can’t wait to see your work in the show, did you submit this? To see your work next year?
Really great work Andi, you really took this and created something strong (Jason).
What can be iterated on:
Maybe have an extra empty frame to give people the idea of placing them differently and also to find a way to voice their own vision of the story.
Maybe a tile like presentation where it’s not a linear frames for it?
A circle formation to represent the ‘circle of life’ (zey)
My observation over the interaction:
People would spend more time with the images when they have to consider what they see, how they see it.
