Wang T6 Station
Special Issue 22
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Under the theme of a Apocalyptic future, I began thinking about how we archive nature using everyday tools. Could these tools be redesigned to capture signals from the natural world? I started modifying umbrellas, combining them with sensors and mechanical components, and made the Rain Receiver, a wearable device that captures raindrops and converts them into digital signals.
This led me to a broader question:
Can we use natural signals as a way to interact with our devices?
I continued to explore this idea in my graduation project, where I focused on developing and modifying tools that connect with nature, exploring new forms of interaction between humans and the environment through signal translation.
Collaborated with Zuzu to archive the sound of raindrops and transform it into a publication. Using ChopChop as a bridge, we connected the Rain Receiver to a printer, each raindrop was symbolized as a “/”.
This experiment helped me continue exploring printer-based interactions further in the next Special Issue.
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Wang_SI22#Rain_Receiver
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Express_lane#Rain_receiver
Special Issue 23
In the second semester, we learned HTML, CSS, and Python through a text-adventure approach that started with storytelling and interaction.
At Varia, we explored these tools by designing small spaces.
Building on my first Special Issue project Rain Receiver, where I experimented with printer interactions,
I continued exploring Python.
Together with Riveria and Michel, we made a server-based cooking game,
where the printer became the head chef in our kitchen, printing out digital food.
During the Prototype classes, I was really inspired.
I started making different HTML-based games about sound, and through researching the Web Audio API,
I built different kinds of soundboards inspired by a traditional puzzle game.
https://perperrunfaster.com/beerrobber/intro
SoundQuilt 1&2: https://perperrunfaster.com/soundquilt1 & https://perperrunfaster.com/soundquilt5
SoundQuilt 3&4: https://perperrunfaster.com/soundquilt4 & https://perperrunfaster.com/soundquilt2
After the Special Issue 23, at my first assessment,
Manette told me:
“How you continue this in the future is important.”
I’ve kept thinking about it and trying to carry it forward through workshops and performances.
In JavaScript Club #4, I shared what I found while working with the Web Audio API like Pizzicato.js and Tone.js.
I introduced different tools and explained how I used JavaScript to make sound experiment based on HTML.
https://perperrunfaster.com/bricks/bricks
In the other JavaScript Club, Rosa introduced the MIDI API.
That gave me a whole new direction.
I started rebuilding my HTML setup and made a performance at Klankschool,
using my MIDI device and one single HTML to create a live sound piece.
By sharing, performing, and experimenting,
These practices opened up new ways for me to think and work.
Special Issue 24
Checking Point
In the third semester, we did a really broad urban exploration, from late-night neighborhood walks to things like mosquito devices.
During the research, I started noticing different surveillance zones and how people reacted to them.
This project continues from the maze game I made in the second semester. Inspired by that, I started to document different surveillance areas and turned them into visual patterns.
I imagined myself as a metal ball, moving in this maze full of cameras.
Inspired by a children’s labyrinth toy, I wanted to blend a playful, absurd game with a commentary on monitored spaces. Rather than giving the project a serious tone, I wanted it to feel like a strange game, one that invites interaction without imposing a “message.”
I used a UV printer to print the patterns onto a wooden board, recreating the surveillance layout as a tactile, game-like surface.
The zine that comes with it is structured like a manual. It’s split into two sections: on the left are the drawn maps of the monitored zones; on the right are photos of the actual sites. The order is deliberately scrambled, encouraging people to find their own way through the images and forms, like navigating the maze without fixed rules.
At the Ubik exhibition, I talked with visitors about the idea of the starting and ending point.
In a linear game like this, we usually have a clear start and end,
but I wanted to make a more ironic structure, with no start or end.
What is the rules in a surveillance space?
It could be a choice, if the metal ball loses balance and drops into the zone.
It could be a choice, if the metal ball keeps its balance and never enters.
This idea also inspired my graduation project, the notations design of the sundial.
In different systerm of music notations, is the start and end also exist?
Is the flow of music linear or could it be nonlinear?
Does human movement in the city,
like the metal ball in the labyrith?
Passing through different zones of musical notation, or losing balance and falling in?
It’s a choice by the players.
These thoughts led me deeper into my final project.
After the Special Issue 24 ended, some classmates and I took part in SIGN's Spread Zinefest 2024,
for a month of research and a zine event at SIGN in Groningen.
Like a pop-up station. We brought the idea of the Rotterdam Tourist Counter there and interviewed people on the street. Each day, we made a small newspaper based on those interviews and delivered it the next day on bikefiet.
With help from SIGN, the local space, this became a continuation of our Special Issue 24 research.
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/SIGN_SPREAD_Zinefest_2024
Solar Beep
In the third semester’s Prototype class,my experience with live performances made me realize that most MIDI devices have confusing interfaces. So I started building my own controller, one with a more logical interface and three different modes, with a clearer, more logical interface.
I also joined the Synth Festival in Utrecht.
By talking to people and observing the market,
I kept upgrading my device, improving both the PCB design and the code.
During this period of experimentation, I encountered various problems, such as circuit problems, material problems, code problems, etc.
I kept documenting all the problems I meet from early research to debugging.
This kind of process documentation really helped me and I hope it can be useful for others too.
These hands-on experiments taught me a lot and provided great technical support for my graduation project.
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Wang_SI24#Midi_Controller
Publications/Workshops/Performances
Real Exam
In the second year, we worked in the form of a Colloquium, which was really helpful for me. It gave me a chance to test ideas that could become part of my graduation project, but also ideas that didn’t have to be.
This open format allowed me to try out different directions and receive valuable feedback along the way.
Inspired from smuggling and exam cheating,
I noticed that these actions have a strong sense of personality and creativity.
This can be applied to publication design, inspiring readers, changing reading methods, and redefining where and how publications exist, using publications to connect to our bodies and objects.
During one JavaScript Club session, I created a series of “cheat pens”, each of them including a small script that would generate sound effects or synths. I asked participants to use them in a fake exam setting.
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/JavaScriptClub/04
From this practice workshop, I realized that some publications only exist in specific scenarios.
Certain scenes shape unique reading methods and create a strong connection between the publication, the body, and surrounding objects.
That’s why building a scene for a publication is important.
To share this idea further, I made a second workshop with a real exam setup.
I designed strict exam rules and created a full exam environment, with seating arrangements and timed sessions.
To add pressure and encourage collaboration, I didn’t give each person an answer sheet. Instead, I provided one single, tiny “official answer sheet” for the entire group, small enough that people couldn’t easily share it at the same time.
The results were surprisingly funny and creative.
People hid their cheats under hats(Evidence#4), inside beards(Evidence#6), even in their mouths((No photo, the evidence was eaten).
They were also showing a great process of collaboration, hanging a huge cheat sheet from the ceiling.(Evidence#2)
I didn’t notice was right above my head until weeks later.
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In the end, I graded all the exams and awarded two trophies for the highest score and the lowest.
Rather than actually making cheat sheets, this workshop is about creating a specific scene, one that inspires us and challenges the way we think about reading and publications.
NoiseKitchen
During Steve’s thesis tutorial, we watched a video about a legendary keyboardist. The funky keyboardist leaned it against his body and played it like a guitar.
This inspired me to think:
What drives musicians to modify instruments?
How device modification could return to the context of live performance?
In media art, I often see a common issue: artists build a musical device or instrument, and then compose music purely to showcase it.
But this workflow often lacks musical expression.
I realize that the production of instrument needs to return to performance, practice and natural expression, to explore the possibility of instrument interaction in the practice process.
For example, in game design, Nintendo once designed controllers made specifically for certain gameplay scenes.
This idea of the situation-specific hardware has inspired me to make devices for a particular performance moments or interactions.
Building on these inspirations and research, after the Noise Kitchen performance during the Public Moment, I designed a set of half-electronic, half-physical instruments. In this setup, kitchen tools were used not as functional objects, but as abstract and decorative elements. I want to make a sculptural combination.
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At Snackbar, I continued the Noise Kitchen concept and performed with these instruments, exploring how everyday tools could shift meaning into a performance setup.
Graduation Project
In my graduation project, I continue exploring the relationship between nature, sound, and interaction by creating a series of sound interactive devices. Inspired by sundials, I installed various light sensors to respond to sunlight. These devices generate different sounds based on the user’s orientation and position in space.
Rather than functioning as fixed instruments, they invite users to explore sound through movement and spatial arrangement. The interaction becomes a form of improvisation, where people are the main characters shaping a dynamic composition between body, light, and sound.
Publication
I designed different graphic patterns to guide users move and generate sound. This continued my previous Special Issue research into linear and non-linear structures in sound performance.
To explore the relationship between graphic and sound, I made a fanbook to present different sound systems. Using the same design elements from the device, the zine bridges visual design with sonic interaction.
leezmaal
设计及完善升级
Thesis
Using a logbook research method, my thesis is structured as a linear, evolving diary. It records shifting ideas, technical challenges, and the unexpected discoveries that emerged along the way. It reflects how thinking and making are deeply interconnected in my practice.
Throughout this journey, I often feel like I'm switching between two roles:
With blue marks, One is the maintenance worker, focused on building, troubleshooting, and keeping things running, a hands on role, wearing a blue shirt, fixing problems as they arise.
With green marks, the other is the researcher, constantly questioning, experimenting, and exploring the ideas behind the work.
These two roles exist separately but also feed into each other, shaping the way the project develops.
Help
After receiving thesis feedback from Joseph, who suggested that I could make a "blog" to document my troubleshooting and building process, I realized it could be a valuable resource not just for myself, but also for others.
Over the past two years, I’ve faced many technical issues that were difficult to solve or even search for online. I remember, when I first started XPUB, I had no idea how to deal with any of them and I really wished there were some guide. I’m very grateful to the teachers and classmates who helped me through them.
So I made a “Help” page (https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Lost/) on my wiki to document all the issues I encountered, along with the solutions and lessons I learned.
I hope it can become a helpful reference for others who are navigating similar challenges.
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