Prototype

I am making an interactive installation to present the ideal mode of human connection and social interaction by taking doors as a metaphor of access from one's mind to another's.
By its participants closing and opening doors, I would like to signify that doors of minds must be open for a person to have connection with another. And by switching the perspective, I want to indicate the importance of seeing from other’s point of view.

An ideal human connection is constructed by two open minds that can understand each other, which is hard to get and maintain in reality. It is why I would like to create a piece demonstrating daily human connection with ideal interaction to make people think and to analyze how they react to it.

Main concept:

• Doors = access to one's mind

• True human connection = mental connection

• The ideal mental connection = two (minds)doors open at the same time. (Self-enclosure + social exchange theory)
  

" The more you want to know another, the more you have to show and share with."

• The ideal social interaction needs people have more understanding of each other.

Video mode switches to real-time video = subjective becomes objective = seeing how others see you.


Fallowing sketch is the plan for the door located on 10th floor.





Potentiomater + Openframework from Hsiang Ju Hung on Vimeo.



Small Model of my installation from Hsiang Ju Hung on Vimeo.

Next :

1. To modify the code to make doors' angle match each other
2. To make preset video switch to real-time video from camera randomly.
3. Shoot more footages.
   

Question:
1. How to make users know this is about human connection ?
2. What kind of content will make the theme more obvious?
3. What can users take away from my piece? ( memory of experiencing it??)
4. How can I make this into a piece that users can interact with real users(skype?? is is too complex??)?

Concept+Scenario updated

Concept/
I am making an interactive installation about human connection through doors opening and closing.

A video of different people opening and closing a door would play simultaneously to user's opening and closing a physical door at the end of a fake doorway behind it. Every time a user open the door, he/she will meet a person acting simultaneously in front of him/her. The more he opens the door, the more he/she can see the other. As human daily interaction, the more people want to know others, the more they have to show and share with. I try to connect people and make people think about interpersonal relationship through this simple and common behavior.

Scenario/
Jude is a cdt student walking on the way to the lab on 10th floor as usual. When he passes by the door at the end of a hall way, he hears knocking sounds from it and gets surprised. He turns back to the door and finds there is a door viewer on it. He looks around but dose not see anyone around. Then the door knocks again. So he peeks into the door viewer to see what is making the noise. Unexpectedly, there is a woman looking at him very closely, which makes him shocked. Although it is a little creepy to him, he believes that it must be someone playing tricks and testing sensors behind the door.


Then he tries to open the door to see what's behind it. However, when he opens the door, he sees a hall way leading to another projected door which is opening by the woman. He looks at her looking at him. She waves toward him and keeps looking at his way. Jude feels so strange to have a stranger looking at each other for a while although she is not a real person. But he still waves back to see if something will happen like other motion detecting pieces. But the woman is just looking at him. Then he finds that when he moves the door, the woman also moves hers. He closes the door and peeks through the crack. The woman also peeks over there simutaneously. Therefore, he decides to close the door and open again. However, there is another stranger instead of the woman opening the door with him. And surprisingly, when he closes and opens again, he sees himself.

Jude feels it interesting to share with his classmate, Claire. So he asks her to come to see. They close it again and play with it together. Sometimes they see themselves opening the door at the end of the hallway; sometimes they see some strangers. Some strangers open the door very happy, and some are shy. It is a naked man always hiding his body behind the door even it is open. It is a group of kids standing and laughing right after the door when it is open by one of them. And it may also be a girl crying.




Installation structure:


I'll use a potentiometer attached to door joint to input analog to Arduino board connected to a computer. The angle of door would control video frame playing on a straight screen built into a trapezoid constructure behind the door. There will be a modified door viewer box attached to the door. It has half transparent mirror let it either see a small screen playing video or see through fish eye lens.