Networked Beings
In the world with no Oxygen, how would you breathe? When all the connections are severed, how would you connect?
Team
Love Lagerkvist, Karim Mortada Mohamed Mahmoud, Elizabeth Matkiewicz, Tirsa Rosalba Ramos-Pedersen, Miha Žgank
Is still possible to provide humans with a connected human experience not through artificial environments but by actually designing for people to recognize that they are part of a bigger network not only between human and non-human but also between organic and non-organic?
Problem
Make people conscious of their impact on the existing network within nature, “How can Embodied Interaction facilitate connections between beings in such a way as to respond to extreme climate conditions?”
Process
First we explored existing literature, did bodystorming, brainstorming, and digital sketching.
Later, through digital and physical prototyping we created a living and breathing system.
Solution
The final prototype includes masks, belts, and a pedestal with a sealed floral being. It takes 3 participants to activate the prototype. Each participant puts on a belt, which measures breath from the stomach movement and provides individual light feedback. The participants also put on masks, which are connected to the pedestal. AirQuality sensors incorporated into the pedestal measure the level of CO2 the participants exhale through the mouth into the mask's hose. If it is produced "enough" CO2 for the floral being, there will be collective feedback in a form of light.
The reason for using a whole face-covering mask is to take away individuality and move away from a person to create a node of the breathing network. There is no individual in this node, just a system of connected beings.
Final prototype.
Video and high-quality pictures of prototype: Love Lagerkvist
