Project 3: Visual Weather
Project Proposal for the Project Visual Weather
Material: The project will be an installation based on new media and mainly digital media. As explained, the main part of the artwork will consist of a cube 1.5 meters long and wide and 2 meters high. The cube’s material will consist of either thread (string) or strips (depending on how the material works best). At the same time, a projector will be used, which will project light, which will be generated through the processing of weather data from a weather station. In particular, the weather station will store weather data (temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and dew point) in a cloud service on the internet. Subsequently, a computer in the art gallery will receive the weather data in .json form and analyze it with the help of Processing 3 software, converting it into light colors to be projected in the main work. For more information, see the diagram below.
Application: The project will consist of an installation in the exhibition space. The project will create the sense of a body or a space that will function metaphorically as a forest.
Installation: A projector will be mounted opposite of a cluster of threads. The cluster will be placed in the space vertically and fixed by weights at the bottom end of each thread. The cluster will form a cube-based volume.
Aesthetically, the impression of a three-dimensional projection will be created as the light from the projector will penetrate into the thread cluster. The cluster of threads can be interpreted in many different ways: perhaps it can refer conceptually to the notion of a forest or the notion of imminent danger (everything hanging by a thread). At the same time, it creates a diffusion of the light one encounters in the forest, thus artificially transferring the atmosphere of the forest into the interior space.
Projection: The projection will consist of an animation that will include colors that one encounters in the forest at different times of the year and at different times of the day (a photoshoot will be taken beforehand from a point in the Troodos forest in order to analyze the lighting and colors). In this way, factors such as light, light intensity, contrast, and color will be varied according to the actual outdoor weather conditions. The whole project will aim to create the impression of the forest, indoors. Measurements of weather variables (intensity, wind direction, temperature, dew point, atmospheric pressure) will be taken from an installed weather station in a natural environment. The data will then be automatically entered into a computer and converted into an animation which will be projected on the installation. The program that will process and convert the data into animation will be Processing 3.0.
Purpose: The purpose of the project is to convey an indoor impression of the forest. At the same time, this impression of the forest will be altered by subtle changes in weather conditions, giving the impression that a small, subtle change in the weather can have a significant impact. It will transfer the change in weather from the actual forest to the indoors (conceptual) “forest” while also magnifying the implications of the actual weather change. It is often observed that climate change denial is based on a lack of knowledge on the subject. That is a problem that relates more broadly to the lack of contact between the scientific community, theories, and conclusions on the one hand and society. The reasons are many and varied and have to do with the political and economic system, how the mass media and the online media operate, or many others. This project aims not to criticize but, instead, to inform conceptually and experientially about climate change. We often hear about a change of 0.5 or 1 degree Celsius or 2 degrees Celsius, and because we have limited knowledge on the subject, we consider it a small change. In reality, a 1-degree change (which we are already experiencing) has enormous direct consequences on the ecosystem and chain effects that are now beginning to emerge. Even if we stopped the 1-degree temperature change, the true magnitude of the effects would take decades to become apparent. Alongside the chain effects on the ecosystem, there are also chain effects on the meteorological and climate system. An increase in atmospheric temperature will inevitably change the temperature of the oceans, affecting air currents, thus altering atmospheric pressure, the strength and direction of winds and hence rainfall, and, again, temperature. Climate will change, and economic problems will emerge in the affected areas that will cause social and political instability.
Ultimately, the project aims to convey an impression of the changing weather in the exhibition space. A 1 degree Celsius change in the actual forest, for example, will result in a noticeable change in the conditions (light, colors) in the indoor exhibition space. That will make the 1 (or less) degree change noticeable, thus conveying an accurate picture of the problem. At the same time, the combination of meteorological data will show the cascading nature of the climate system.