They Wonder the Real Color of Skyblue
Development Log
Here listed the research process for my bachelor graduation project at Royal Academy of Arts, the Hague.
The topic is about understanding and misunderstanding during the process of communication, of cultures and of individuals.
Understanding takes efforts from all parties. I wish to introduce my audience to the complexity and nuances of ideas in communication, to offer a platform where they can have a sensory experience of being understood and connected to another individual.
©xiaoyaoma 2022
I am an interdisciplinary visual artist who works with fictional narratives and future speculative environment to reflect on the present. I loves researching and exploring different methods of creating tactile moving images, including films, illustrations and interactive visuals, and use them as my tool of translation from the abstract to the tangible.
By mixing real life experiences with fictional stories, I wish to offer my audience multiple perspectives to look at the world around them and to bring attention to the unnoticeable objects and routines in daily life. (Xiaoyao Ma, 2022)
Motivated by the query of how we as humans can connect and gain understandings across different cultures and languages, this thesis includes personal observations of having contrasting worldviews generated by speaking two languages, then interprets those observations with research on the nature of language and translation theories from authors of various cultural backgrounds. Extracts from fictional literature about language are also listed to help expand the discussion from the cultural perspective to variations of individual perceptions. It concludes with the statement that despite the misconception generated by the linear quality of language, there is great prospect in forming strong connections from the desire of being acknowledged and understood. By choosing to approach our encounters with one another with curiosity and patience, we can gain an invaluable understanding of other worlds and realities.
Selection of Sources & References:
- El Aleph by Jorges Luis Borges.
- Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
- Xu Bing, Ed Plen and Gu Xiong: Lost and Found in Translation by Patrick Mahon.
- Philosophical Investigations by Wittgenstein Ludwig.
- Moving South by Yu Dafu.
Use visual narratives to illustrate different scenarios of understanding and sharing a moment, encourage the audience to let go of their current reality and take a part in others.
Personal Motivation
- Express the issue of the missing of real understanding in existing approaches of communication, limitation of linearity of language, offer a new approach to connect individuals across culture and language.
- Showcasing technical skills including: projection mapping, 3D animation, using data for interactivity, visual narration, creative coding.
- Experience for potential opportunities and jobs (cross culture platforms, visual translation)
Target Audience- People who are interested in having an ‘escape’ moment from reality and refresh their thinking of understanding & communication.
- People who interested in learning through interactive arts/connecting through an interactive experience
Outcomes/Goals- to give visitors a release/relax from the normal social routine- a shared moment/experience/fun time with another individual
- be inspired by the fictional stories about sharing and reflect on the act of share.
How to capture a moment?
September - October, 2021
I started my material research with experimenting the material wax. I was fascinated by the fluidity and the change of physical quality when it encounters other materials (e.g. water, ice) & adapts to the environment. It is also a perfect material for capturing the moment of change.
The test helped me to:
- abstractly think about communication
- get familiar with wax
- produce visual materials for concept video
A narrative video on the topic of personal experience in understanding and misunderstanding in communication combined with a material research of liquid wax pouring into water. As to explore and experiment with the nature of communicating through language, I choose to voice over the video not in the same story told in the subtitles, but the Chinese version of one chapter from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino where Marco Polo talks about Venice to Kuhblai Khan:
'Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice. Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.'
By speaking my thoughts out I gave it a defined shape, but I will never be able to express all my thoughts completely at once.
By speaking of my thoughts, I slowly lose the fluidity of it when it was still in my brain.
Voiceover text: Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Chapter 6
Music: Gymnopédie No.1 - Erik Satie, played by Reinbert De Leeuw
December, 2021
I am motivated by the intriguing quality of language and culture to create an immersive fictional environment, familiar yet mystical. A large-scale projection enables the participants to wander freely in the fictional world, consisting of a simulated landscape—fields of grass swinging slightly with the wind and glittering in a sunny universal environment. A momento that represents the instant of mutual connection is floating freely among the landscape, inviting the participants to catch it using a physical “window.” The work is a comparison and simulation for the fragile process of communication and mutual understanding, the subtle quality that fosters our connection and disconnection within cultures.
The physical elements of the installation consists of:
- Projector
- Projection frame, wrapped by artificial grass
- Controllers
- Speakers for Soundscapes
- Black Curtains (with silkscreen patterns)
- (Preferable) Bean bags to sit for non-participating visitors
For the interactive mechanics of the controller
I am working with electronic components:
- an accelerometer for tracking movement, connected to
- an ESP32 for wireless data trasferring
- plus a ring LED for indicating the controller in the dark
Narrative
Placed after the game play, the narrative act as an incentive for the players to continue the experience. Consisting of three linked stories, they illustrate different scenarios of sharing and understanding.
There are two main characters in the fictional story representing the two players.
Placed after the game play, the narrative act as an incentive for the players to continue the experience. Consisting of three linked stories, they illustrate different scenarios of sharing and understanding.
There are two main characters in the fictional story representing the two players.