Seeing the world gradually crumbling, with everything seemingly heading towards a state of ruins, the question arises: where can we find hope, and how can we continue to live well?
This interactive piece was created using Touchdesigner in February 2024.
Moodboard
The concept I am exploring lies between sociology and philosophy, how different societal problems contribute to the deteriorating world; to what extent could humans influence the future. I got inspiration from work from various disciplines. I have studied some lyrics, quotes from books and TV shows, installation art pieces, animation, paintings and photographs. One of the main inspirations is from 《日沒前》 (The Apocalypse is Nigh), a song by Serrini. The lyrics depict a complex emotional landscape, touching on themes of disillusionment and despair.
Design Methodology
My work has two main parts: the inner circle, where people search for hopes and solutions, and the background, which symbolizes the state of ruins and how people are destroying or saving the world.
The inner circle consists of a few components, including a moon, sea, ship and flying petals. The moon serves as a metaphor to convey a sense of melancholy and loneliness. The ship in the sea symbolizes a journey, in this case the process of hope searching. The ship floating at the same point depicts the lack of progress and uncertainty in future. Lastly, the flying petals in the composition symbolizes hope, new beginnings, growth, potential for positive change. However, the petals are bounded by the circle and are not able to fly across the whole canvas, meaning that hope is currently out of reach. The petals is the only component in my work that is not in monochrome. This design decision was influenced by the quote from 《故事租貸合約》. The quote is about a person telling another person the reason that the Northern light is so difficult to be spotted is that they haven’t gotten used to the darkness. Their eyes would need time to adjust to darkness before being able to see the Northern light. This quote symbolically suggests that we have to be patient and resilient when searching for hopes in times of despair.
The background is made of a picture of the hexagonal columnar joints in Hong Kong. This natural landform formed 140 million years ago. It took years for the lava to cool and solidify after a volcanic eruption. There are a lot of cracks on the landform. I think the slow forming process can symbolize the forming of society, and cracks forming overtime due to weathering symbolizes how people are destroying the world bit by bit. I overlaid a particle system on top of the picture, adding a little more texture to it. I also incorporate webcam interaction in the background. The background would look like having more or less broken pieces depending on the audience’s position in camera. This symbolizes that people have a role in either hastening or slowing down the ruin.
Overlaying webcam top on the picture taken at the High Island Reservoir in Hong Kong:
Ideal Presentation Style
It is preferred to have it projected on a wall in a tiny room that allows one person to get in at a time. The audience walks into the small room where all the walls are high gloss black surfaces and they can see and interact with my work projected on the furthest wall. I think it is important for the audience to see my work without distraction from other sources.
