Jocawed27sept

Assignment

Describe two of your works/ projects for each work describe

• What (100 words max)
• How (100 words max)
• Why (100 words max)

Onda

Onda is an air purifier shaped like a painting. The image is made of white felt, with a pattern of black curved lines that look like waves. The fabric features an invisible nano-coating that cleans the air using light. After pressing the textile, violet light shines through the textile and glows on and off to show the air quality. The design has a square frame made of beech wood, with an opening for a power cable to leave it. On the bottom there is a small metal plate with holes in the middle, which hides the integrated air quality sensors.

First, a pattern is silk screened on the textile. After that the felt becomes an air purifier by spraying it with titanium dioxide. When there is light, these nano particles react with pollution in the air, changing it into substances like water. The sensors inside the frame measure the air quality, and check if someone pressed the textile. The light is then made by LED lights that emit ultra-violet light. The speed of pulsating indicated the air quality: slow when everything is right, faster when the air gets polluted.

I wanted to show how air purifiers could have a different role in our lives, using this particular nano technology. Currently air purifiers are noisy white boxes. I looked for a decorative piece as a contrast: a painting. During the process I tried to balance the effectiveness of the air purification, with a user experience that offers delight to people.

Massine

Turning dance movements into sound effects, that's what Massine does. The musical instrument looks like a small wooden cylinder and has an elastic strap to make sure it stays in your hand during an intense choreography. You can hear the effect instantly, different types of movements correspond to various sound effects and filters. Inside Massine different sensors measure your movements and send it to a computer. This device is connected to the music and other musical instruments, and applies for example a low-pass filter based on the speed of the dance movements.

The wooden cylinder is made of one piece of flat plywood, which is turned into a cylinder using a lattice hinge: by lasercutting it with a specific pattern the wood gets bendable, up to a point you can fold it into a cylinder. Besides that, the plywood gets a darker color making it look like bamboo. Inside the cylinder the sensors and batteries are placed. Two round pieces of plywood close the sides of the cylinder and keep the elastic strap into place. Via a wireless connection Massine is able to send the movements to a computer.

The design was the result of a project about music improvisation. After several jam sessions with the group I became interested in dancing. I saw it as a way for people to participate in group improvisation, without the need for a lot of musical skills. Next to that I liked the idea of influencing sound by movement using sound filters, instead of just producing sound. It could act as a way for interesting improvisations; The musician influences the dancer, which influences the music and this repeats infinitely.