Lost Rituals. Gone Before Their Time.
Physical Computing. Solo two week Arduino project. Our brief was to design an intervention around the notion of a ritual. Inspired by lost rituals from my childhood, I designed a set of interactive pieces.
Learning Outcomes: Arduino, Ideation, Research.
RESEARCH
My starting point was to observe and question peoples existing rituals. What is a ritual? What distinguishes it from a habit? Why do we perform rituals? I observed my friends and family, asking them about their own rituals. I broke down what a ritual entails and created my own sequence.
It became apparent that rituals require space, both in terms of time and mind. They were deemed as something that was satisfactory. One common theme was the notion of transitioning from one state to another. Another was remembering old rituals that no longer exist. These were mainly related to obsolete media and machinery. I decided this would be my direction and began to ideate.
CONCEPT
I decided on three concepts, which incorporated three different forms of interaction, to play sound, light and motion. I began to collate and explore materials, and discovered an old video cassette which I disassembled. Using Arduino, I aimed to bring the joy of rewinding video tapes back to life!
BUILD
I started to build each interaction, by firstly, prototyping it into cardboard.
I wanted each piece to represent different interactions. The three interactions consisted of a traditional button, placing the object on its side and pulling the object apart.
PROTOTYPING
For the second iteration, I began prototyping using Arduino. I researched various ways of playing sound and turning on and off lights. For the videotape, I created the motion with a pencil by twisting it and then with a stepper motor by programming it on Arduino. I programmed a tilt switch to turn on light / sound, and connective rubber band to play audio. I then began to build the third iteration using the desired finishes.
FINAL DESIGN
Ireland is known for its culture of traditions. Many century-old Pagan and Christian customs are still practised today. These customs lose their original meaning and take on a life of their own. This project explores obsolete rituals from my childhood. The first object, “Videotape”, refers to disused tapes and the act of rewinding when you have finished watching - or cursing the person before you who hasn’t. The second, “Net Curtains”, when tipped on its side, lights up and plays the familiar theme music of Glenroe. The third, “Dial-Up”, when pulled apart, plays the pre 1997 dial-up tone of the internet.
LEARNINGS
Soldering can be tricky. Blue tack really helps! (Thank you Paul for the tip!)
Don't be over ambitious when it comes to learning a new skill. Arduino is fickle, with so many variables it can be difficult to figure out where you went wrong. Asking a classmate to cast a second eye over it is really helpful.
Making models always takes longer than you think. And I really missed working in the workshop!
Keep it simple. Originally I wanted to make two boxes using metal, however this was not practical given time constraints. In the end, the painted MDF gave the desired effect.
