Project 5: Memory

Video of installation

When I was young, my family also took a lot of photos on old-school digital cameras and printed them out as tiny pictures. Because of their size, as we moved houses a lot, they also slowly became lost one by one. Simultaneously, as I look back on my childhood, memories were incomplete - I remember myself in the moment, but did not remember much about other details - other people, the location, the conversations. Through this installation, I want to bring my unfinished childhood memories to the eyes of the viewers: unfinished photos that display and disappear, the familiar sound of the fan running during summer, and the smell of Chinese rubbing oil that inundates my nostrils.

I programmed an Arduino Board to control an ultrasonic distance sensor that detects whenever there is someone close by. As they back out or walk away, the picture will disappear again. Only when someone is interested in the box with pictures on the table and comes up to take a look, would the pictures show up, revealing my "unfinished memories" through manipulated pictures of my youth. Furthermore, the fan blowing underneath the table combined with the dispersing smell of rubbing oil creates very noticeable sensations to the viewers.

Materials:

- Bedsheet (Full)

- Projector

- Table

- Photo frames

- Wooden box

- Photo printouts (colored, B&W, empty)

- Arduino Sensors

- LED lights

- Fan

- Chinese Rubbing Oil

Making this piece, I struggled with making the installation because I needed to figure out how to connect the two components: digital and installation. Moreover, to make it an installation, I need to draw connection between the physical components itself. I plan continue to work and further improve this connection in my Repair version of this piece.

Setup of installation components

Sound (Fan)

Set up with fan underneath the table