Hybrid Exhibit Environments

October 19th

Rough layout of Miller ICA.

When thinking of concepts for my museum exhibit, I knew I wanted to do something concerning the Anthropocene rather than an artist. While an exhibit about an artist would be fun, I wanted to focus on a subject with a deeper meaning. The first thing that came to mind was the Amazon rainforest, and while narrowing down my topic, I settled on environmental activism in Latin America. At first I thought about focusing on the dangerous situation they’re in, as more than half of murders of environmental activists occurs in Latin America, and more than 40% of those murdered are indigenous. However, I think this topic would be very depressing, and so I shifted instead to having a section to honor those killed, and focus more on highlighting the strides environmental activists have made in Latin America.

Thoughts and research.

October 20th

Today I went to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, as well as Miller ICA.

Here you played the video on the touch screen, and you could watch both from up close as well as far away.

Could have a section like this to represent the rainforest (for example, Yaguas National Park)? I love the idea of including plants, though I’d prefer real ones. I like the textural element.

Touch screen, with a diorama in front. Could do this with endangered wildlife that has gotten protections due to activist efforts.

Cute little info desk with maps and a scavenger hunt challenge. Floor stickers with an activity for kids.

Screens to display a landscape. I prefer the curved one as it’s a little more immersive. +A diorama of a forest! Could include one of the Amazon to scale?

Reels and their viewing areas. I like the timer in the first picture, as it lets you anticipate the video and possibly look around more while you wait for the video to restart.

Just audio; the Savannah scene had audio of bird chirping and howls; in the second photo, there was a seating area for you to sit down and listen to a story about how the constellations were formed. In time with the story, the ceiling had the lights turn on and form constellations.

Touch; read an illustrated about the creation of the Pleiades constellation at your own pace; read more about the artist if you’re interested.

Mural with 3D elements; reminds me of a paper cut lightbox. Fruits and plants on display.

Reflective surfaces. Could a message could be written here?

Reflective spaces; writing and reading. (Anthropocene Living Room!)

Political messages.

Height of text. Most text was either a bit below my eye level or a bit higher.

Miller ICA;

Lots of signage.

Info desk had a wall up to the left. A smaller table had pamphlets.

Screens at Miller. The one on the ceiling had figures below looking up.

Video with headphones to listen (hi Hannah!)

Me using the Oculus, looking around.

After my observations, I’m feeling really inspired! I saw a lot of interesting things today and am excited to explore the options for my exhibit.

Extras:

October 25th

Moodboard.

I struggled at first with my moodboard because although I had a good idea of what my concept is, I didn’t have a vision of what I wanted it to look like. Because mine is about the Anthropocene (more specifically, environmental activism in Latin America), I knew I wanted green in my palette. I added pictures of Liz Chicaje Churay (bottom left), who won a 2021 Goldman Environmental Award for her efforts to create the Yaguas National Park in Peru, protecting over 2 million acres of the Amazon. In 2020, Nemonte Nenquimo (top right) won the same award for her campaign to protect 500,000 acres of the Amazon and Waorani territory from oil extraction. Her lawsuit set a legal precedent for indigenous rights in Ecuador.

For the interior, I knew I wanted something minimal, simple. I chose the picture in the top left because the materials feel natural, and I edited the picture to have dimmer lighting for a more serious tone. Jess gave me a great suggestion for my typography — to choose something inspired by protest signs. That reminded me of what I had seen in the CMOA the other day, which are the two light gray pictures with black text.

The showcase of botanical plants in the bottom right is from the CMONH. I like the idea of doing something similar in my own exhibit to display the incredible diversity in the Amazon, which over 3 million different species inhabit. It’s also why I included the botanical poster as I decide how I would include this idea.

Storyboards of ideas, though I think I’ll exclude the “animals in the Amazon” idea and might iterate upon the “lights in memory” idea.

I’m still thinking about how I’d arrange these things in the space, but I’m pretty satisfied with the last 3 interactions I have. For the history timeline I think I’d put it against the back wall, and the story cards/call to action on the right wall. I’m not sure yet what to put on the left or front walls.

What I have in mind right now. Anything to put in middle..?

For the story cards being on a reflective surface, I was inspired both by the work I saw at the CMOA (inspired by the idea and wanting to use it) and the Center for Civil and Human Rights (inspired by the reflective surface in use). The story cards would play a video, each about an environmental activist and their achievements.

October 27th

Hybridization of an environment;

More and more restaurants are embracing a hybrid environment by introducing self-serve kiosks. Fast food is now faster than ever at restaurants like Panera and McDonald’s. This sounds like kiosks would replace cashiers, though at the moment it seems like most people don’t want those jobs in the first place — does this mean we can eliminate a job position that no one enjoys working and nearly everyone does out of necessity? Could this take the burden off of overworked workers, or would this be devastating to people struggling to make minimum wage? In any case, as a customer I love these kiosks. It allows for no human error from a cashier taking my order and I don’t have to interact with a stranger who doesn’t want to be there.

Kiosks at Panera and McDonald’s.

Parti diagram.

Floor lights. Small LEDs would light up as you walk over them, each one honoring a murdered environmental activist.

Timeline of environmental activists murdered in Latin America in the last 2 decades (may adjust time range). Timeline would begin to form when you walk up to it due to a motion sensor. Info bubble zooms in when you rest your eyes on it using eye tracking.

Story cards on reflective surface. Rest your eyes on one card to play a short video detailing the person and their achievements. Look towards the right to see more people.

Indoor waterfall with glowing text that would appear when you walk up to it (text very much subject to change). Panel on the side elaborates on the text.

November 1st

I’ve revised my parti diagram so that there’s a more clear direction of where people should be walking. Some of my peers suggested that the timeline needs to be placed in a way that the visitor begins to read it chronologically from left to right and not approach it from just any place. It was also suggested that instead of having the waterfall kind of hidden that it should instead be placed at the entrance. I’ll also research some sort of climate change/deforestation related fact about the Amazon to use for the waterfall text. This would then be more impactful and really set the tone for the exhibit.

New parti diagram. Might need to extend timeline to B wall?

When you enter the museum, you’ll first see the indoor waterfall. The text lights up and reveals itself from behind the water when the visitor approaches. Then, the staff can direct you the right way, and answer any questions. You are lead to the timeline, where it’s most spacious to add some breathing room and space to take in something so heavy and serious. I want to rethink the interaction I have with my timeline or adjust the idea in some way so that not everything is a proximity sensor. Not pictured are the floor lights, around 227 lights (hypothetically) to honor each environmental activist in Latin America who was murdered in 2020. These would light up using a pressure sensor, so they would be activated when you walk over them, trailing behind you.

You then head out of the museum when you come to this screen, displaying different story cards. Each one is about a different activist. When you approach one card, it will play a video about that activist’s achievements and how you can support their campaign. I’d like for this to work with a proximity sensor so that it’s like you’re walking up to that person to engage in the conversation and learn more. Here, the model approaches the first card, so the card zooms in a little while the unactivated cards are grayed out. The footsteps on the floor indicate that you should come closer.

Pressure sensitive light to represent the floor lights.

Proximity sensor light, which most closely represents the waterfall text. Sketch of littleBits and Arduino models.

I didn’t think of this earlier, but I’ll have to play around with the speaker/mp3 player littleBits to get something working that would represent my story cards screen.

Reference: https://www.instructables.com/Ultrasonic-Distance-Sensor-Arduino-Tinkercad/

November 3rd

How is the role of an architect and environments designer different?

I think they’re different in that an architect is thinking more logically, and considering the construction and safety of a building, while an environments designer is thinking more about the spatial design and experience of that place. The architect has a responsibility to the structural integrity of a building, but an environments designer is more creative with the looks.

Before; After.

Modified version of timeline.

Rethought my timeline: it went from being about every activist who had been murdered in the past 2 decades to now highlighting the high-profile assassinations of 5 activists. These people are Berta Cáceres, Isidro Baldenegro, Homero Gómez González, Paulo Paulino Guajajara, and Gonzalo Cardona Molina. Now, the pressure-sensitive circle will play a video about the life of that person and what their achievements were. When you step on the circle, it will light up and the light will spread up the line to activate the video. The inactive videos are in grayscale, while activated videos turn to color. An audio dome above would play the sound of the video. The timeline is to honor their memories, while the story cards section is meant to uplift current activists, recognize their achievements, and to encourage others to support their campaigns. The spacing between circles is difficult and the images should be made smaller.

Trimble still isn’t working, and I want to make a curved wall but don’t know how to. SketchUp has crashed several times and I am afraid.

November 8th

I wasn’t happy with my craftsmanship so I tore everything out of my museum and redid the walls and flooring. I also added a desk, chair, and little laptop for the staff, a curved wall, and a bench. Tomorrow I’ll add the rafters.

Current progress of physical model and SketchUp. Need to add rafters + vines to model, and add picture to curved wall in SketchUp.

November 14th

SketchUp has stopped working for me and won’t let me open any files :( Second photo is a screenshot I took from Catherine’s computer.

Typeface for my presentation glitched so it’s all in Optima now, no Bely Display.

Added curved wall, intro paragraph text, edited the background for last activist.

Parti Diagram including rafters and optimal path.

Self-reflection:

What motivates you?

I think for this project I was most motivated by my topic. Picking such a serious issue, especially one close to home, drove me to want to do this subject justice. I’m sad I couldn’t discuss more during the presentation about each activist, or include the stories of more people. Although I didn’t include more people I still enjoyed my research. It’s nice to read about the people currently making a difference, or the people who left an incredible legacy before their passing. It’d be nice if my research could accompany this project in the form of a short essay about my findings.

What distracts you?

I suppose everything distracts me. On the weekends, the stress of my 104 homework distracts me. Working in the studio for a while distracts me because when I get hungry I go into survival mode. But I don’t have a meal plan, and I find it hard to meal prep. When it’s getting late I start getting stressed about walking home in the dark. I like taking breaks. I mostly work in studio because when I get home, all my motivation leaves me. So I enter a paradox where being at studio too late makes me nervous to walk home alone, but I feel the need to complete as much as possible in one go at studio to be productive.

What keeps you engaged?

The work itself keeps me engaged. Having enough crit to know what to improve, what I need to add, what I need to work on. I don’t think I’m good at iterating. I do better when I receive direction of where to go. Otherwise the only time I really generate ideas is in the beginning stages and then I go from there. I don’t pivot much like other students do. Even though “your first ideas are your worst.” I tend to take my first ideas and try to make them better, not scrap them all completely, which I don’t think is a good strategy. As Vicki says, you should learn to “kill your darlings.” But I tend to have few darlings at all.