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Object Story : Exercise 3 video

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Object Story 3

For this exercise, I decided to tell the story of my main object, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Car through the use of interacting with other objects that are related to the car’s background. The user can toggle on next and back buttons between objects with the starting object being the chitty chitty bang bang car and a short introduction text about the car and then a brief one sentence telling the user they must click on objects for more info. Each other object is related to another piece of information about the car. The information doesn’t have to have a strict order, therefore I decided to allow the user to choose if they want to go back and forth freely. I also incorporated images that correspond to the object story and give the user a different form of visual stimulation. Finally, I include an audio track of the Car’s infamous audio track from the film playing on loop, as it immerses the user in the interaction more. 

With this exercise, I was struggling quite a lot with the raycast hit, but after tweaking my code until it worked, I managed to make the objects tell a relevant story while still including the main intended interaction of this exercise. For next time, I would like to have made a more creative form of toggling the different objects instead of using next and back buttons.

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Week 9 - Online Museums

Readings

From Malraux's Imaginary Museum to the Virtual Museum, Antonia Battro in Museums in the Digital Age, ed. Ross Perry, Routledge, 2010, pp.136-147.

Behind the scenes of the museum's website, R.J. Wilson, Museum Management and Curatorship, 2011.

From these two readings I was especially interested in Malraux’s  Imaginary Museum. I was intrigued by his commentary on how things are viewed differently once placed within the context of a museum. Malraux pretty much explains the whole banana duct tape setup that went viral a couple of years ago. Aside from viewing art more critically and with deeper thought when it is placed within a museum, I was also interested to read about Malraux’s perspective on how we view art. Should art always be viewed critically?, or can we just surrender to our basic analysis of good art “would I have this in my house”. Surprisingly, Malraux departs from the oftentimes pretentious and classist approach to analysing contemporary art and says fuck it, you can view shitty art as good, or good art as shitty, the context of whether it is in the MOMA or on in a junkyard should not affect our own individual expression of art. 

Going on to the next reading, I found it to be slightly less expressive than Malraux’s. However this response is not meant as a comparative analysis. I do appreciate their attempts on making an online exhibit feel as close to an in person experience, however there is a difference between measuring up the enjoyability of the experience online versus in person, and just replicating what you would do in person but in an online platform

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Week 8

Readings

Museum4Punkt0, Katrin Glinka, in ICOM, vol. 70, 2018.

In this reading, Katrin Glinka describes how it is very common to forget about the process of technological innovation and solely focus on the output. The Museum4punkt0 project highlights this very specific problem by placing the process and documentation in the spotlight, and available to all.  By making digital prototypes open source for all, as well us emphasizing their documentation, Glinka pushes forward the notion of technological innovation being available to all, as not only a tool, but as an inspiration for more innovation.

I find that Glinka’s values fall very close with my own, especially within the narrative of bridging the digital divide. I believe that museums must create an online database that has information on the contents/collections they hold to be available online for everyone/anyone. The implementation of this however, seems very unlikely as there will always be a political/economical motive that will oppose the idea of making the museum in itself an open source database. Although, through ideas such as Museum4punkt0 and google arts and culture, this is slowly being realized.

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Week 6: Role of Museums

Readings

Key Concepts of Museology, ed. André Desvallées and François Mairesse, Armand Colin, 2010, articles Collection pp. 26-28, Exhibition pp. 34-38, Mediation pp. 46-48, Museum pp.56-60, Object pp.61-64.

The End of the Museum?, Nelson Goodman, Journal of Aesthetic Education, University of Illinois Press, Summer 1985, pp.53-62.

The reading “Key concepts of Museology” stood out to me in the way that exhibitions were described. I specifically was entertained by the meaning of an exhibition to be based off the visitor instead of the collection in itself. I feel i agree with this idea, as the way the audience interacts with the collection is what gives an exhibition meaning. Without an audience to exhibit to, there is simply no exhibition.

Similarly, Nelson Goodman builds on this idea in “The end of a Museum”. However, Nelson does form a more aggressive approach to how the audience experiences an exhibition oftentimes “missing” the idea. I personally found Goodman’s approach to how the audience “fails” to “see” the museum properly as a pretentious statement that excludes individuality in processing information. I feel that instead there is an equal responsibility on the museum and visitor to make an exhibition work, in terms of “it takes two to tango”

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Use Cases Interest

for this project I was interested in 1- future walk and 4- humboldt forum basement.

future walk interested me because I like to work more with sound and figuring out a creative way to tie in user interaction with sound production seemed like something I'd specifically like to work on.

Humboldt Forum basement grabbed my attention due to it addressing the longstanding conflict of restoration, how can we properly restore something we don't know much about?. Is it better to leave things to the imagination, or to strive for historical accuracy?. I would be interested to work on these questions more

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Collection Exploration: Archive

this project was interesting because I was able to focus on the design aspect more and not worry about technicalities, however I quickly realized that prototyping/ simulating AR design is just as time consuming as creating the actual AR. to view my work you can click here.

To improve my work for next time, I would like to learn more AR simulation design programs, because for this work I used what I knew best which is video editing and canva, however to make things look like they were in an AR field was new to me, therefore I'd like to expand my skills in that criteria. I felt like I had a really nice creative image in my head, but simulating it just didn't turn out as what I'd imagined. I'd like to be able to manifest my thoughts onto paper (or in this case laptop).

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Collection Exploration: Brainstorming

For this project I would like to augment the collection at the louvre museum in Abu Dhabi. While the museum is a mix of contemporary and traditional art, I am not yet sure if I should choose to focus on one of those parts or both. The louvre museum in Abu Dhabi has an extensive website that describes each piece that is shown in the museum, I however do feel that there is a lack of driving force as to why anyone should care to use the website. For this project I want to bring the augmented reality aspect of the museum to life by giving it a purpose, and meaning as to why it exists, perhaps relating the rare and expensive western art being brought/bought into what is now an economically successful Middle Eastern country. I am thinking of building on this idea of connecting the imported art to the traditional art in the museum and how it relates to the geopolitical infrastructure of the country as a whole. 

Idea Changed:

I decided to change my Idea to the ABBA museum, as I felt it had more creative freedom involved which is something I feel I do well in. While the museum in itself combines technology to aid in an interactive user experience, I believe the website is far lacking from emulating this sense of involvement and interactivity. For my AR design, I plan on making the curator’s goal of involving the audience in the ABBA experience feel more authentic and real, to a point where you can feel apart of the band at any given time of the day.

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Exercise 2: Objet Story

Goal:

In this assignment, I really wanted to update the vision I wanted to display originally, which is that the car is a priceless prop. Even more so “the worlds most expensive stage prop”. When receiving critique on this exercise, I was asked “why am watching this?”, and the goal of this update was to answer that very question. Oftentimes, a viewer is drawn in by grandeur in a way i.e: people in crowds surrounding the mona lisa at the louvre in Paris. Therefore, I had to make it clear that the object they’re staring at is not just a car, but a priceless relic that has none like it, one of a kind. My target audience isn’t towards people solely interested in cars or film props, but those who are interested in rarities/exclusivities in general (which compromises most of the viewership). 

I decided to keep my buttons on screen space because I felt like these are elements which should be accessible no matter where the user points their camera.

Changes since first Exercise:

- Application is built in world space (augmented reality)

- text information is added/changed to target the main draw in of grandeur

- Buttons are improved by placing them on screen space

- allocation of object is changed to fit world scene

- colors of text are enhanced to look more aesthetic for the reader

- image shows up in a way to not block the view of the object, rather have it in juxtaposition with it.

Technicalities:

- Next time I would like to improve on the text visibility i.e adding a transparent black background to the text so that it is visible despite the AR background.

- Adjusting the animation for the image to show up at a bigger size.

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Week 5 - Museums & Utopia

How can a museum be a place for utopia?

Museums are autotelic, and are therefore in themselves a place of reflection on the collections that exist within it. Similar to Utopias, Museums don’t envision a perfect utopia, as “Utopias at their most Utopian are unrealizable”, Instead museums combine the art of “psychogeography” in how the viewer connects with the objects in a museum to evoke the sense of a surreal/perfect world. In one way, I would say that the way a Museum is setup, and the chosen displays of collections and groupings are what make a Museum Utopian. It is not an envisionment of a perfect world, rather a navigation of how we can connect with objects around us, whether from the past or present, and what that evokes in us - a sense of creation, idealism, renaissance.

Have you personally had such an experience when visiting a museum? Why? Why not?

I have personally had a feeling of Utopia when visiting a museum. This experience is referenced by my visit to the louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Before walking into the Museum, I was immediately greeted by architecture that felt so familiar yet futuristic, I was completely expecting a recreation of the Louvre in Paris, or one that fit the geopolitical infrastructure of being in the Middle East, i.e Middle Eastern architecture. Yet, what I saw was art collected from all around the world, most being expensively familiar. However, the way the art was displayed in such a sleek yet rich looking building gave new life to all the collections within the museum. I looked at the art from a completely different perspective than when I had seen it in their previous settings. This feeling was more Utopian, perhaps not only because of how the entire building is setup, but because of where it geographically is as well. To see such valuable art being shown next to old rusty pots from a village most of the world has never heard of, gave me a sense of Utopia. Since to me, Utopia involves a collective community that is prosperous in wealth and beautiful scenery no matter their geographic location.  Therefore, the beautiful grandeur of a steel dome with rays of sun shining onto a terrace surrounded by the worlds most valuable art and a koi fish swimming in lake water, all this being in what was once a sandy desert in what used to be the middle of nowhere, is to me a Museum of Utopia.

How does technology relate to utopia? How does it help, or hinder, a utopian vision?

Technology in relation to the evolution or devolution of Utopia is very complicated. I personally believe there is no right answer to this question as it depends on how people subjectively envision Utopia. To me, since Utopia includes advancement, then Technology must be included, as advancement cannot come without technology. Therefore, technology would help realize a Utopian vision, as without all the technology we have accumulated over time, we would never be able to create the buildings, scenery, food, and even objects that are included in most visions of Utopia.

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Exercise 1 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Unity video 

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Exercise 1 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

My project is based on the car used in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was inspired to use this car as the centerpiece of my project after seeing many models of 3D cars available online. The models of cars available online were plentiful, so I wondered if there would be a model of the specific car used in the film, to my surprise there was. After deciding on the topic, and object of my project I felt that it should be reminiscent of a car gallery feeling. I’ve been to multiple car galleries in the UAE and there is always a display of classical cars and their descriptions including the time in which they are made. Car galleries are oftentimes very simple, including only a simple description of the car, with the car on display being the main focus of attention, which is what I tried to replicate in my project. There are only 3 main icons that can be clicked on to display different types of information (sound, image, text). The background wall of suburban nature provides a scenic backdrop to accentuate the context of the car being vintage.

Click here for project link on google drive (NOTE: SIGN IN TO NYU EMAIL REQUIRED TO VIEW THIS PROJECT)

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Week 4 - Augmenting Objects

Artefacts and the Meaning of Things, Daniel Miller, Routledge, 1994, pp.396-147.

Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, Paul Du Gay and Stuart Hall, The Open University, 1997.

The first reading I found very interesting at it was directly related to our discussion in last weeks "museum Island" class. Specifically looking at how Artefacts are arranged, whether chronologically or thematically. Personally, I found that a thematic order of the Artifcats gave more siginificance to individual complex timelines in different parts of the world, rather than merging it all into one lazy summary of "worldly" events. Similar to Miller, we discussed how Artefacts placed in museums often times lose the artists original vision of being appreciated as a work of art on its own, rather than the grandest creation of a now non-existing civilization of people *proceeds to show a pot* -this is what I believe most non-European/white cultures fell victim to-. The "wow" factor is oftentimes derived from the group of people from whom that work of art came from, rather than the individuality of the work itself. I believe it is always important as Miller discusses, to ask ourselves why is the Artefact valuable, rather than what makes it valuable?.

The following Walkman reading is as well very much related to this argument which develops the question of what we as a society find valuable in objects. Do the objects come with a set value? or do we give objects value?.

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Week 3 - Interaction Design

The Rhetoric of Video Games - Ian Bogost

The main points that I have picked up on from this reading would be how strongly society has created a distinction between play and work, and how procedurality is so strongly rooted in the games we play. 

Play truly has been distinguished from work to be a distraction, something that I feel is very wrongly seeded in our upbringings. This topic is definitely one that is in constant debate as there still remains to be no true definition of the word “play”, yet play is something that humans have evolved with for thousands of years. Asides from looking at play from a perspective of productivity/efficiency , I also enjoyed reading about play through a social lens. 

Bogost mentions in the text above that games teach us that procedure is the core of all automation, specifically in computers. Eventually, as computers will become a bigger role in society, familiarizing with such procedurality will become a needed skill. One example I could think of that I felt resonated with Bogost’s argument would be the game Minecraft. Minecraft, similar to Animal Crossing, simplifies real life complexities into a virtual game, wherein one can build their own house, farm their own food, and build their own wealth. The more work you put into the game, the more your virtual world can advance. The simple procedurality that existed in Minecraft of : Mine, Build, Expand, Mine even more efficiently, genuinely taught me how computers worked. The virtual Minecraft world we build on runs in the same procedure as its own code, which is to input a value and then create an output for that, and loop it to expand the output every time more input is given. Even the process of building a wooden pickaxe in Minecraft would go the same way it does in code, wherein the woodblock is turned into wooden planks which is then added together in a specific sequence to create the pickaxe. Similarly in code, a value must first be defined, that value can then be put in formula which is also defined to then receive a sum/output.

Inventing The Medium

This reading was a great introduction for me into product design thinking. I really understood how much creativity it must take to truly come up with an innovative design, as the author states that design is often built open what already exists. Therefore, to come up with a new design for something would require some sort of invention. Similar to the examples used in this reading, just looking at my own screen I can see very little departure from our original laptop screen designs from 2008. The close window, minimize, and full screen buttons at the top of my browser are still the same symbols as they once used to be, occasionally they won’t appear unless I hover on them, but I can still tell which button is which by their, red, yellow/orange, and green color. Perhaps this form of design however, is one that can’t really be changed without causing some confusion to users. At this point however it is important to ask what are the fundamentals of new design, should design sacrifice the users understanding of it’s interactivity to learn a new form of display, or should it ease a users interaction at the cost of creating an ironclad structure for how things should look like.

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#bladerunner2049

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Week 2 - Augmenting Technologies

What were the visions of early computer pioneers as they developed new technologies, such as the Internet and the computer screen? How did they envision humans and computers cooperating? Did it turn out to be true or not?

Readings

The Ultimate Display, Ivan Sutherland, Proceedings of IFIP congress, 1965.

A Survey of Augmented Reality, Rick van Krevelen and Ronald Poelman, Delft University, 2010.

HYPER-REALITY, Keiichi Matsuda, 2016.

After reading Sutherland’s The Ultimate Display, I must say that I was a bit confused on how he articulated/imagined our already existing technologies today. Perhaps the simplest analysis he brought up would be the inclusion of typewriters in modern day computers, which we now know as keyboards. Sutherland also mentioned that the tools in controlling computer technology that existed back then were mostly only tied to the hand and arm muscles, which is true as it would be impossible to operate any piece of technology from the 1960′s without the use of our hands. Consequently, Sutherland follows this statement with the prediction that since our hands come in such high dexterity to us then future technology will be made to be controlled by eyesight, as it is another human function which we rely on heavily. This prediction inevitably comes true in the form of eye-tracking. Eye tracking has become such a popular form of computer interaction in many different fields such as, gaming, videography, and online streaming that the software has been made accesable online, the only thing you would realistically need is a computer and webcam. Wether or not we will have more immersive technology, I believe is dependant on how functional it would be for us. For example, while we do have exhibitions that display technology that makes use of our sense, sight and touch (i.e teamlab exhibitions) these mostly exist for our pleasure rather than necessity. To a high extent, technology advances and amalgamates to our needs and ease of functioning, therefore for computers to include all our different physical senses in the computing (AR) world would highly depend on how productive that is for us, or else it will never reach the level of commercial use, which is generally the narrative justified in the second reading which begs the question “what use can we make of it?”. 

My analysis of the HYPER REALITY video was extremely reminiscent of the feeling I got when watching Blade Runner 2049, which brings in a new term for such a reality which departs from Augmented Reality to become even more extreme; Altered Reality. While these two words might seem similar I think it is very important to differentiate  between an augmentation/Addition of virtual reality into our daily lives versus the inabilty to live without the augmented reality in our daily lives which is now altered to become part of our  reality hence an “altered reality”.