人算不如天算
I was asked to make a blog for the NYU IMA Low Res graduate program. (I started with no tangible experience in interaction design.) Math is nature’s poetry, and these are just diary entries.
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I was asked to make a blog for the NYU IMA Low Res graduate program. (I started with no tangible experience in interaction design.) Math is nature’s poetry, and these are just diary entries.
Alter-Instagram
Reel
IMALR-GT-201-13
WHAT: IMALR-GT-201
I thought long and hard about how to write this. I think I have to approach this from an overarching critical experience and its inherent chapters.
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Chapter 1: Glorious Intrigue
Ah, the honeymoon phase of any relationship- whether it be with a tangible lifeform or an intangible idea. To be honest, I was greatly looking forward to the second half of the semester. I’ve been wanting to dedicate time to exploring The Philosophy of Physics ever since the program started... And so I did.
I started with many potential routes that this could have gone. I was looking at mathematics and what all of it meant. If math is, in fact, visual (which it is), then what does that mean? What is reality? If something can exist in our mind, is that enough to say it exists? After all, a perfect circle is merely a concept. It is not something that physically “exists.” If we cannot even imagine a sixth platonic solid, what does that mean? So many questions.
However, I was also taken ahold of by the term “wavicle” from Adrienne Maree Brown in our first reading. This is a word that has fascinated me on all levels, from a subatomic standpoint to a potentially much larger perspective (considering the universe itself).
During this research medley, I also met with Margaret, and her input intrigued me further. She studied Physics at NYU (one of two women in her program). She recommended the book, Against Method, to me. She said it might “free” me from the “burden of caring” as it did her.
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Chapter 2: Commitment Issues
Something I joke about (but not really). Many years back, I was in a yoga class, and the teacher said something that stuck with me. We were entering Padangustha Utkatasana (chair pose on tippy-toes), and he told us to just pick a depth and commit to it. It wasn’t about how deep you could go, but rather about being able to sit with the posture long enough to see it and its effects through.
For an overachiever like me, that was new news. The idea that it didn’t have to always be perfect, or the notion that you can’t always give 100% and it’s okay (and in some weird way, that is 100%).
Well, I picked “wave-particle duality” as a more specific theme to explore and wanted to create a biosonification experience out of it. I told my friends a month back that I would be bringing this device to our annual camping trip, so we could all listen to plants together.
That was my commitment. By stating it into existence, I wanted to hold myself accountable. I had thoughts on the visuals in addition to the sound (though I’ve never opened Ableton before this). User journey and moodboard
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Chapter 3: Real Life
For those of you who don’t know, when I talk about work, I’m referring to two of my own companies. One content-centric production house and one ad agency.
As I was trying to find commentary on the duality of plants as singular objects vs. the waves of electricity that flow through them, my account director’s mother suffered a brain aneurysm and was sent to the ICU. I picked up the work. I don’t know if I slept for more than 3-4 hours/night those 3+ weeks. (not to mention the nonstop international travel). At one point, I had to turn on autopilot and just “push forward.”
As I was working on the device, I must admit that it didn’t feel like “mine.” I completed it and was just fiddling around with Ableton (thanks, Sasan). I felt like I wanted to pivot, but was also so hung up on this idea of having committed to it (+ my exhaustion) that I couldn’t bring myself to... But please don’t get me wrong, when I first heard the plant sing, I was still mesmerized. It was a critical experience for myself, as I’ve only ever considered biosonification in theory. Please see videos below.
I was so tired.
So, so tired.
Last time I was that tired, bad things happened.
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Chapter 4: The Call
Ah, Marina. Why must you always serve up dishes so hot and real?
So, I got on the call. I could sense the caring disappointment (best word I have to describe the feeling right now). And I couldn’t even be mad at it, because I already knew it wasn’t quite representative of the intention I had when I started out.
I felt a sharp pang.
I smiled.
Then, I started thinking.
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Chapter 5: Wilder, The Camping Festival
It was wet. It was cold. I was tired. But I wanted to set up a booth and finish what I started... and I wanted to do it as “right” as possible, so I zipped myself up in my tent and got cracking.
Well, my device uses electrode pads. Electrode pads => conductivity... Hmmm. This is when the pivot happened. I realized that everyone there was much more interested in a unique perspective on their own individual experiences rather than the plants... So why not meausre Galvanic Skin Response and physiological stimulation instead?
Ding ding ding.
Sine Language 2.0.
I explained to everyone roughly how it would work and how it was meant to test your physiological arousal at the time (which became a test of how “chill” you were). At one point, I had a line of people wanting to try it while taking a shot of hard liquor? Haha.
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Chapter 5: Musings
I sat with the video for awhile. Many people messaged me afterwards giving me their take on the experience. I think the most interesting comments were about subjectivity vs. objectivity- how the experience allowed the individual to “observe” themselves from a different sensory outlet. (The philosophy of physics!!)
I wasn’t sure where I wanted to take it in terms of a case study video vs. piece of poetic prose. Ultimately, I decided to try to combine both (as a souvenir for msyelf). The case study parts were written in white text on black backgrounds, while I narrated the poetic bits.
I felt like the “critical experience” had already happened at Wilder. The video documentation was more just for me. Something that I could look back on one day to feel all the chapters of this story again.
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Looking Back: Success Rubric
My hope is to get people interested in wave-particle duality in order to question realism.
My hope is to create a synesthetic experience of electricity in order to make wavicles tangible.
My hope is to make something beautiful in order to increase my appreciation of the world around me.
My hope is to create music from Cali (a cat) in order to preserve a unique representation of his life here.
My hope is to bring a different perspective to physics in order to make more people curious (predominantly male field!).
My hope is to explore something I’m curious about in order to remind myself that there’s more to life than work.
My hope is to ask why I’m so obsessed with reality vs. realism in order to find out more about myself.
My hope is to ask questions about music theory in order to force myself to start exploring it.
My hope is to ask questions towards others in order to have them ask questions within.
Totally fulfilled: I build an app that my friends and other curious people can use to explore the duality of existence through sound/color produced from electrical activity in plants and other lifeforms.
Somewhat fulfilled: I have a working prototype with some sound and visual capabilities.
Not fulfilled at all: The device does not work, and nobody has that “eyes light up” moment.
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Honestly, I consider this experience a success. I thought that I would only feel “somewhat” fulfilled with a working prototype, but I realized that the fulfillment came from me delivering an experience for the people that I care about that enriched their relationships with themselves and each other.
In terms of the feedback, I thought the most interesting was Marina’s comment about how my experience threw the scientific method out the window. GSR is typically measured using your fingers, but my friends liked it on their temples... and I felt no desire to stop them. Instead, I just wanted to laugh along (after all, it seemed to work just fine). I realized that I’m in love with the questions, not the method... or even the answers.
Everything that interests me is about connetion.
I hope people become more curious-
Curious about themselves, each other, and the universe at large.
I believe we all just want to feel a little less alone in the world.
Sources:
Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark
Against Method by Paul Feyerabend
Biosonification Tutorial
Another Biodata Tutorial
Galvanic Skin Responses during Problem Solving
Studies of the Galvanic Skin Response as a Deception Indicator
Affectivity in the Arousal of Attitudes as Measured by Galvanic Skin Response
Mental Work Blocks and the Galvanic Skin Response
Mediated Generalization: The Generalization of a Conditioned Galvanic Skin Response Established to a Pictured Object
Lachlan Turczan - Inspiration
StarTalk - Neil Degrasse Tyson
Presentation slides below!