GOING THROUGH IT (AGAIN!)

This week was mentally challenging for me. It felt like nothing was going in my favor. To start the week off, I received a rejection from a company I was in talks with for a year-long contract. Everything was going smoothly until we realised our timelines didn't align—I wanted to start when they didn't have availability. It was a rough blow because having this job lined up gave me a sense of security. It meant I could stay in Singapore for another year without being financially dependent on my parents while figuring out my work visa. But now, with this uncertainty looming over me, I found it hard to focus on anything else.

DOING DAMAGE CONTROL

Apart from the personal crisis I was going through, my artifacts weren't exactly shining, so I needed to do some damage control ASAP. I was already a week behind my intended schedule, with my artifact 2 in shambles and my artifact 3 nowhere to be seen. Additionally, I had set week 12 (OPEN STUDIOS) as my milestone, so I had to make sure everything was up and ready by then.

At this point, my plan was to concentrate entirely on salvaging my failed artifact. For the light and shadow artifact, if nothing worked by open studio, I could revert to my initial explorations from earlier weeks—they weren't too bad. I was reluctant to let go of the concept of creating something uncomfortable or scary because I already had a narrative prepared for it. Starting anew would mean doing twice the work I had already done.

CONSULTING ANDREAS IN DISTRESS

I was on the verge of tears due to my anxiety about my artifacts, so I had a consultation with Andreas, hoping for a miracle (perhaps a bit of an overreaction in hindsight). It seemed to be the first time he had seen me this stressed, and so got a bit concerned as well. He helped me gather my thoughts and formulate a plan. Andreas pointed out that I was putting too much pressure on myself to finish my artifacts for open studio, treating it as if it were a final submission, which was contributing to my stress. He reassured me that having a skeleton prototype would suffice, and I could refine it further after open studio. Regarding the failed artifact, Andreas suggested exploring the use of better materials, as the reason it wasn't working as intended was likely due to using inadequate materials and relying too heavily on DIY methods.

FORMULATING A NEW PLAN

I abandoned the idea of creating a box where users could feel the interaction on their hands. However, I maintained the essence of the artifact: unidentifiable movement that induces unease, along with the same narrative. While browsing Pinterest and exploring other works, I stumbled upon tensile structures.

WHAT ARE TENSILE STRUCTURES?

Tensile structures, commonly used in architecture, intrigued me. Lasalle also has a tensile structure, visible from Frass. The structure and design sparked an idea for my artifact. Visualising it with servo motors, I thought it would look interesting.

CONCEPT SKETCHING

Drawing inspiration from tensile structures, I sketched out my concept. The idea is to create a frame with extended stands for servo motors. During my consultation with Andreas, he suggested exploring extended levers for the servo motors to achieve larger movements. I planned to use wires or wooden sticks to extend the levers, enhancing the movement when the servos activate. Next, I envisioned covering this structure with a highly flexible fabric. This would create the illusion of someone trying to escape from the fabric, with the movement appearing more dramatic and intense. To find the right material, I researched various options used in tensile structures, ranging from PVC to silicone.

MATERIAL HUNTING

I went fabric hunting to find the right kind of material for my project. Fashion students suggested I visit Chinatown for a wider variety. Since I was unsure about what to buy, it made sense to explore fabrics there and make a decision. After browsing, I found several suitable options, including PVC, lycra, polyester, and jersey fabric, all of them were pretty flexible.

I purchased PVC silicone and jersey fabric, as they seemed the most suitable for my project. However, there was a limitation: the PVC silicone was only available in royal blue, while the jersey fabric was in black. Although blue wasn't part of my original color palette, I decided to buy it anyway because I believed the fabric would be suitable for experimentation.

After finishing fabric hunting, I headed to Daiso and Art Friend to buy wood for the frame. Fortunately, I found the right size at Daiso, which also had space for my wires to easily hide. This meant I didn't need to saw anything, which was a relief.

MAKING THE ARTEFACT

I began by constructing the frame, but I had to alter the size of the stands for the servo motors because they were too big. Additionally, when attaching ice cream sticks as the levers, I realized they needed to be a bit smaller to prevent the movement from becoming disrupted and cluttered in one place. As I assembled everything, I realised I needed something stronger to hold the wood together. Initially, I used double-sided tape, but it wasn't strong enough, and everything kept falling apart. So, after measuring my proportions and doing a rough layout, I decided to secure all the wood with super glue. However, the servos weren't as stable as I'd hoped; they kept falling as they started to move. I didn't want to use super glue on them because that would make them unusable later.

If internship has taught me anything, it's the importance of skeleton taping. I used the tape we would typically use during events and shoots, and it was life-changing (sarcasm). Thanks to it, my wires were able to be securely placed, solving that issue. While the servos were still a bit problematic, they weren't as fragile as before.

DRAPING FABRIC

Once I had the base ready, the next step was to drape the fabric. I decided to start with the PVC silicone fabric because I thought its texture was better suited for the project compared to the jersey fabric. However, as soon as I started draping it, I realised it might not work as I had envisioned. While it was stretchy, it lacked flexibility and had a lot of tension. This resulted in the fabric looking flat without any natural drapes or folds. Even when the servos were moving, the tension in the fabric hindered its movement.

DOING DAMAGE CONTROL (AGAIN!)

I was feeling increasingly tense at this point because the PVC silicone fabric wasn't working out, and I only had the jersey cloth left to experiment with. If that didn't work, I'd be back to square one, which I couldn't afford financially or mentally. Quickly, I switched to the jersey fabric, and it immediately looked a lot better. The fabric was much more flexible and stretchy, and the movement appeared more intense and dramatic compared to the previous one.

While figuring this out, I also signed up for roundtable hoping getting outside perspective would help me go in the corrrect direction for this artefact.

FIGURING THE AESTHETICS

Another thing I had to be mindful of was the wires for the servos. Despite there being slots for them to go into, they kept slipping, so I had to tape them securely and cover them to prevent them from falling out or being visible. While the black fabric and brown frame were functional, they didn't quite achieve the desired aesthetic. So, I decided to spray paint the frame black as well to make it look more cohesive and in sync with my overall idea.