Project 3 :
Powers and Nightmares
Description
In Powers and Nightmares (P&N), an installation based on Shuffle Space’s methodology, Art Center’s students shared what superpowers and nightmares they have as designers. Their inputs were written and recorded on two devices on the site, a set of black tubes that recorded and played people’s audible comments, and a light table with orange and black markers that allowed people to write down their words.
During the five-day exhibition, the designer projected selected and scanned comments on the wall in the site, summarizing the ongoing conversations written or recorded on the devices. This time-delayed projection created a sense of motion graffiti acting as the voice of the installation’s designer consistently reacting to the activities.
From the gathered data, an object, Doma Clouds, grew based on various topics and comments users had mentioned in the exhibition.(3) If what video projection provided was a form of summarizing, this cloud represented an analysis of the physical shape and tangible reading experience.
Users could see others’ personal comments in this public space, learn how the system worked, and feel the participation of its designer. This exhibition/installation fabricated a social exchange that was not happening in other typical conversational spaces. Through these interfaces, local users created and joined a small activity developed and inspired by themselves. For the designer, the project facilitated sub-group dialogues in a both poetic and realistic way. The reflections could prompt further design interventions. In the end, the Doma Clouds resulted in a structured and reflective documentation of the voice of a community.
Analysis
The feature of designer-embedded interaction in P&N gave the designer an opportunity to connecting to with the audience. Unlike in Lost & Found, the designer’s editorial voice actively participated in the process in P&N. Among other interfaces, such as software, web pages, or even phone customer service, the creators who may be programmers and engineers are not allowing real-time responses and fixes or personal interactions to happen.
One of failures in P&N was the interface design of sound recording devices. From one conversation with a random user, I learned the fact when documenting a personal thought or comment via audible form, it gave less clues for users and harder for their content. The instruction on the recording could have been designed better but the idea of public voice mail was worthwhile to explore. It would give different textures and emotional impact to the community. A project by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Hole-in-Space(H-I-S) is a critical examination of the use of media, locative interfaces, and designer’s aspects to the idea of Shuffle Space. H-I-S launched two life-size video projections in Century City (L.A. area) and New York City, which allows public to see, hear, and speak to random people on the other side. Beside the scale of two projects, Shuffle Space intends to emphasize on the dialogues in local users prior to unexpectedness and exploration in the experience.
The elements of anonymous opinions and stories in these series of Shuffle Space explorations does prove that an alternative outlet for dialectal exchange can be provocative and reflect the personalities of the target community. If activated in a location-based community, such as Chinatown or Little Tokyo, what Shuffle Space reflects will be different than touring information or the use of scripted-space. While one of criticism of Shuffle Space is that the variety of local cultures could cause unpleasant experiences, it is the job of a media designer as a cultural observer to find an intellectual and inspiring way to have conversations with the audience beyond cultural differences and prejudgement.(4)