#expressivity

Presentationfluid (gender expressionfluid, expressivefluid, abroexpressing, abropresenting or abroexpressive): having a genderfluid expression/abrogender presentation; changing/fluctuating the way you present.

The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

WOMEN

So far I have implemented a bunch of different inputs and outputs into our LED object, and I want to dedicate this post to out them and answer why I put them there.

Video of almost all implemented functions so far:

Light mode - It’s calm, it’s “breathing” slowly. It can get surprised if you make a drastic input (e.g. bang on the table or apply a lot of pressure), but only up to three times during this state, then it understands that it’s you and won’t let you surprise it. If you don’t make any inputs it gets impatient and eventually even more impatient, demanding your attention. It can get surprised in its impatient state if you haven’t surprised it up to three times before that, but in the most impatient state it can only be calmed - because it wants your attention and know where you are and what you’re doing. After it’s been calmed it goes back into its resting state of a “slow breathing”.

Dark mode - it’s anxious and have a high pulse. It’s easily startled during this state (e.g. a gentle touch or a small tap on the table) and can always get startled/surprised. When it enters dark mode it resets the surprise counter and can continue to get surprised in the light mode when it enters that again. 

But why have I implemented these inputs and outputs? 

I have had two words in mind from M1 show and tell - Temporality and Integrity. In this module I wanted to explore, experiment with and experience these notions within interactivity. The object has its own integrity and temporality through changing state over time, it goes from calm to impatient to more impatient until you calm it down. You can affect it through surprising it or startle it through a pressure sensor. It has further integrity and plays by its own logic through only becoming surprised/startled 3 times (unless it moves into dark mode).

Maybe I’m too into my own project, but I feel very intrigued by this object. I feel like it has its own personality, it doesn’t just listen and respond to inputs, it has its own outputs as well. It responds differently based on in which state it’s in. 

But we need to work more on how to convey all of this through working with and exploring through materials. I also need to incorporate some better transitions between the states. But I do think it’s expressive, and nuanced in its expressions. Maybe transitions will make it more nuanced. I think I might be on dangerous territory with feeling slightly attached to this object having (according to me) successfully implemented the personality that I wanted it to have. I need to take a step (or two) back and see it with new eyes. I hope exploring through and experimenting with putting the object in different materials will help us forward in order to convey the nuances, expressivity and personality of the object. We have some initial ideas that we will test tomorrow:

Building a lit up box that contains the light and expresses its states directly within the box as the box is one idea. The input could be modified to be either on the object itself or outside of it. The next step of the exploration would be to see how the personality and expressions are perceived when it’s projected onto another surface. Indirect light expressions.

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