Under
Under is an environmental art piece aimed to spread awareness of the water level rise that is occurring due to climate change. Powered by an algorithm that uses data sonification of water level rise data provided by NASA, the piece merges the form of visual and audio and displays what is occurring now and in the projected future.
YEAR
Fall 2022
TEAM
Russell Yuen, Clark Tanquerido, Monica Louise De Mesa
Click the button below for the final project video 🡫
Project Summary.
PROJECT TASK
To create a creative wearable technology that embodies the topic of “Art and Monitoring Environment”.
MY ROLE
To conduct research on wearable technology and design an art piece that conveys the urgency of ocean level rise with real data.
Research.
CHOOSING A STREAM
We first began our project by choosing a stream of interest. After team discussions and research on past projects, we choose Art and Monitoring Environment as our stream, setting the topic of ocean level rise as our main topic of interest.
RESEARCH
We found that according to research by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the absolute sea level has risen at an average rate of 0.06 inches per year from 1880 to 2013. Since 1993, however, the average sea level has risen roughly twice as fast as the long-term trend.
Average Global Sea Surface Temperature, 1880–2020 retrieved from United States Environmental Protection Agency
A dataset we found during our research was used to enhance the reality of our message. The data was collected from Satellite sea level observations by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. It contained Global Mean Sea Level variations measured from 1993 to August 2022. This data was used later in our project in a form of data sonification.
DESIGN QUESTION
How might we deliver the urgency of ocean level rising onto a wearable technology art piece?
INSPIRATIONS
As part of our creation process, we wanted to have a look at existing artworks that discuss the issue of ocean levels rising.
We looked at this piece called “Lines (57° 59′ N, 7° 16’W)” by Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho which projects a brightly lit line on buildings, which rises over time to help us imagine the future sea level rise. Our main takeaway was the contrast between beauty and disturbance in this piece. Seeing the line rise above the height of people made us feel terrified. Recreating this emotional impact through our project then became a design goal.
https://niittyvirta.com/lines-57-59-n-7-16w/
This second piece is called “On the Horizon” by Ana Teresa Fernandez. This artist displayed glass tubes by the sea that were 6 feet in height to represent the rise of sea level by the year 2100. The artist stated that “we’re missing a way in which we can experience climate change more physically.” This perspective inspired us when cultivating the aesthetic and experience we want to present to the audience.
https://anateresafernandez.com/on-the-horizon/
Ideation.
RAPID 8s
This exercise helped us envision the final concept of the wearable technology as a group. We each drew eight rough sketches of the design in eight minutes and discussed what idea each sketch was based on.
Rapid 8s sketch done by Reina, Monica, Russell, Clark in order
EMPATHY MAP
Empathy Map was used to discuss what we want the audience to see, feel, and think.
USER PERSONA
Creating a user persona helped us identify a potential audience for the final design and what values we should be aiming to target.
ART GALLERY OBSERVATIONS
We also went to an art gallery to make physical observations of technology art piece installations.
Final Design Concept.
VISUAL
A dress with an LED strip that gradually lights up from bottom to top + pulley system created from servo motors and rods to signify drowning with the gradual rise of sea level
AUDIO
Data Sonification from data recorded by NASA
MATERIALS + TECHNOLOGY
Organza + Nylon
Acrylic Rods
Glue + Band Wrap
Fabric + Threads
Cardboard + Felt
Servo Motor
LED StripArduino Circuit Express
Logic Pro
Data Sonification
AESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS
One of the main obstacles we tried to overcome was, how to create a dress that didn’t just look beautiful and have a cool change in appearance.
In order to overcome this we began by defining our emotional Impact Goal to help guide us in our aesthetic considerations. Our goal was “To create a sense of anxiousness and panic that would cause viewers to care about the issue and make change”. We considered the question “How can we make the visual tone of the dress feel negative and terrifying rather than showcasing a beautiful dress that does something cool?”
These are some images that inspired and represent the type of aesthetic we wanted to apply to achieve this goal.
https://www.hereygo.top/ProductDetail.aspx?iid=166049232&pr=48.88
https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/21665/1/faustine-steinmetz-ss15
https://www.etsy.com/listing/661667505/wasteland-costume-corset-dress-gothic
DESIGN SKETCH
Here is the final sketch of the design of our dress. We made use of Blue shimmer organza and nylon fabrics to apply texture and visualization that signifies the ocean. We created a ragged, distressed design with the fabric, yarns, and threads, in order to create a sense of tension and discomfort when viewing the dress.
USER SCENARIO
An illustration of step by step user experience scenario made by teammate Russell.
TECHNOLOGY PLACEMENT
Servo/Pulley: Putting cotton underneath. This plane will be placed underneath the fabric of the dress’s shoulder. A hole will be made for the wire and rod to stick out.
Playground + Battery: Connected through the conductive thread to other functions. Attached to belt loops.
Sound: Sound will be played externally. Not from the dress using data sonification and mixing with ocean wave/underwater sounds.
LED: Strip is sewn above the dress underneath layers of organza. It is placed in a spiral/stripes fashion.
Final Design.
FCAT Undergraduate Conference.
Our team was selected as one of the 55 presentors of 2023 Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology Undergraduate Conference. The conference was open for public and became a great opportunity for us to connect with faculty members and people of my industry.
Reflection.
CHALLENGES
One of the challenges we faced was reducing the amount of power required for the circuit boards. We tried to combine LED and servos onto one board but it did not have enough power to run more than one component. We solved this issue by using three boards for the two servos and the LED strip. Another challenge was timing the servo motors and LED to the track as it took us many attempts to get the correct synchronization. Managing the wires and technological components on the dress was also a challenge as we wanted them to be hidden and safely integrated.
POSSIBLE FUTURE ITERATIONS
We were not able to sync the sound file to the circuit board because our specific product did not support the sound files to be playable. If we were to continue with this project, we would like to have the sound autoplay when the board is turned on and the code is started. We were also unable to see the dress presented in an environment that we envisioned to be the most appropriate. I want to see and record the dress presented in the environment of an actual art installation space because this would greatly affect the user experience of the observation.