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How Many More Times Will We See the Full Moon Rise?

Interactive Telecommunications Program Winter Show 2023
Arduino
Fabrication
OverviewThe Full Moon Project is a real-time installation embodying the tidal movements in local areas where the project is presented. Getting premiered at the ITP Winter Show. As a response to a personal loss of a close relative, this project serves as an existential meditation, forging connections between personal grief and universal mortality, encapsulating the finite echoes of human existence within the ceaseless, eternal cadence of the natural world.
material
acrylic board, neopixels light strip, stainless steel, vibrating discs, water, code, time
technology
real time clock modules, physical computing, APIs
dimension
17” x 17” x 8’
timeline
15 days







Technical Details
Reading the tidal data of local areas, the vibrating discs and LED lights will be activated based on the low and high rise tides. Whenever there is a high rise tide, the vibrating discs would vibrate the water on the plate whence the lights are also on. The light captures and magnifies such vibration through the shadows and reflections it creates. Later on, a paper casted with cyanotype will be placed beneath the lights to capture its movement of exposure. Context
As a response to my grandfather's death, I want to treat the tidal data as memorials and ways of mourning all of the deceased whose existence keep returning to us. We chose to bury him in the sea so that we can have access to him whenever we are near the ocean. This project is a personal but also collective experience relating to death. Quoting from Paul Bowles, how many more times will we watch the full moon rise, the times people access certain experience always has a certain limit, yet they all seem limitless in the duree of us accessing it.


Development

idea 1 -  cyanotype
  • sync the exposure time casted on the cyanotype prints with the rise and falls of the local tide movements
feedback
  • difficult to control and collect the prints because of the uncontrollable lighting condition
  • the visuals of the cyantotype adds in another unnecessary layer of meaning which is confusing
idea 2 -  self standing water tank with vibrations
  • attach the vibrating discs underneath the water tank
  • the vibration pattern is controlled by the rise and fall of the tidal data
feedback
  • the vibration itself is barely visible in that transparent water tank
  • it feels very stiff and claustrophobic
final idea - hanging installation
  • vibrating disc goes directly to the water
  • hang the piece and cast light through the water to magnify the vibrating effects from water
feedback
  • love the fact that we need to raise our heads and look up, which creates a more sublime feeling to the entire piece
  • the light magnified is very soothing 











The idea of the final outcome took a lot of twist and turns after considering the reflections from mutiple user tests and feedback sections.