Final Project Proposal

“The Machine of Dreams”
Proposal
March 22nd

Project duration: March 13th – May 13th

Design Statement:

WHAT: To design an interactive installation that uses computers to de-construct and re-construct the human activity of “dreaming”.

HOW: Through interactions with the computer, viewers can experience the infinite possibilities and unpredictabilities in the world of dreams.

WHY: This mysterious/holy brain activity is often associated with the “mind” and the “soul”. Yet by letting computers “dream”, the installation blurs, or stirs, the boundary between man and machine.

WHY: It poses the controversial question of whether “consciousness” can be artificialized & how much consciousness can/do machines posses.

WHY: Design also provide an opportunity of dream interpretation – human’s strive to understand self; curiosity of peeping into the future.

Design Details:

Medium

Material / Medium:
question: what kind of material can deliver:
– the feeling of dream? (translucent plexiglass; textile; wire mesh; smoke; water; )
– the unpredictability of dream? (particles; smoke; noise; )
– the flexibility or possibility of dream? (elastic fabrics; shadows; gears; )

Software:
can generate algorithms that make possible of morphing, evolving, and manipulating.
– Processing, Arduino
– Max/MXP
– Aptana / django(?)

Settings / Context

Space:
designed for a gallery space; with multiple viewers in mind.
– controlled light source: dark space or enclosed spacial structure.
– full-sensory experience with light, sound and

Interactions

Actions:
project invites physical interaction between viewers and installation:
– sensor-embedded objects trigger interactions. (miniaturized people+items)
– re-arranging objects stimulates different consequences. (pre-determined structure with an open-endings)
– puppet master. ARE USERS PLAYING THE ROLE OF GOD? floating vision. (lucid dream; controlling dreams)
– role-playing: react to the evolving dream. (part of an on-going construction)

Research / Inspirations:

movie “Brazil” —

absurdity of machine’s interruption of natural human life.
visual oddness of machinery, internal parts made external / exposed.
personal relationships in a giant system.

movie “Waking Life” —

quote: “They say dreams are real as long as they last. Couldn’t you say that about life?
quote: “Are we sleep-walking through our waking state, or wake-walking through our dreams?

question: if we are awake and aware, have free will and power to change, then:
– what do we want to be? where are we heading to? do we live what we dream about?
question: what is the most universal characteristics of human kind? — in life and in dream. (fear? laziness?)
question: how to quantify your experiences? how to validify them?
question: is “dream” an active response to life? not to observe but to take direction?

similarity between dreaming and living: your life/dream is yours to create.
similarity between cinema and dream/life: story telling; specific time+space+characters… to capture the “holy moment”. why holy?
difference between dreaming and living: in which state are we more aware of our “self”?

Brain Show, American Museum of Natural History —

the “wire jungle”: visually, poetically analogize digital data with neuron activities.
the elastic screen: creates a dream-like atmosphere.
the “sound effect”: how brain interprets the same data (sound) differently.
the “neuron table”: interactive installation for visualizing neurons.
the “emotion face”: an inserted space dimension, its size loudly claiming its presence.    the “round table”: dynamic interface. unusual viewing experience.
the “wire cloud”: visually aesthetic and metaphorical transformation from trash to art.
question: what is “love”? how to find your “mate for life”? how does brain work in such emotional decision-makings? subconscious vs. conscious.
short-term memories and long-term memories: how brains store them and utilize them.
feelings: are controlled by chemicals in brain. physicality of feeling: the complex chemical system (input/output) dictates your feeling and emotions.
singularity: machine-reinforced brain.

movie  “The Matrix” —

“plugged-in”
question: are we living in a supermachine’s dream?
in dream nothing is impossible, if you believe you are dreaming.
physical experiences vs. brain’s perception