Interactive Video Sculpture: Satirize Hypocrites (2015)
Final Effect
Overview
This video sculpture, with an aim to satirize hypocrites in our society, consists of a double-sided face head sculpture and a mirror with a LCD screen on it. The front side of this sculpture shows a sincere kind face while the behind side of the head would be the actual evil face. When people are directly in front of the sculpture, they could see both the kind face and the evil face hidden behind, for the latter will be reflected and showed in the mirror. It is conveyed by the scrolling words on the LCD screens that some hypocrites hurt others in our current community.
Skills
- Arduino coding skills
- Ideation and prototype skills
- Art and technology combined skills
- Researching and self-learning skills (for learning circuit building)
Role
- Concept creating
- Programming
- Circuit designing
Concept
Currently, some people pretend to be virtues in the society, showing smiles and kindness to others. Actually, they are villains who hide their real evil thoughts in their minds. This video sculpture is to satirize such hypocrites, who are more dangerous than obvious villains. We can easily avoid to touch with obvious villains, but we may be hurt by these hypocrites without any preparedness. Most people only see the hypocrites’ appearance of how good they are but ignore the essence of them. Therefore, I build up this sculpture to satire and reveal these kinds of hypocrites in public concerns.
Artistic Style
I designed the mask in the “Victorian” steampunk style, which, in my eyes, is pretty cool and classical. There is also a researched western cultural meaning behind the steampunk design. The front face is a kind steampunk style design face while the behind face is an evil steampunk style design face. For material in this work, I mainly used leather and metal gears.
Sketching
Prototypes for Testing Codes
Programming the LCD Display
I wrote the programming in Arduino and then uploaded the programming to the Arduino board. After that, I connected the Arduino board, the circuit board and the LCD screen with wires. Finally, I made a whole at the bottom of the sculpture so that all circuit connections could be put into the sculpture. Worth mentioning, I cut a rectangle shape on the neck part of the sculpture to display the LCD screen.
It is conveyed by the scrolling words on the LCD screens that some hypocrites hurt others in our current community. These scrolling words are to remind viewers to avoid the tough time with hypocrites in the future.
The LCD screen, as a pendant of the necklace, can be part of the Victorian steampunk head sculpture art design. The chains are made of metal gears, and the central focus pendant is the LCD screen. Under this circumstance, viewers can pay attention on the LCD screen.