Custom chair sensor, Arduino Nano, JavaScript, projector, speakers.
When was the last time you stood still and just gazed outward, not distracted by your phone or the cacophony of a crowd?
“Stay” is a 3-part interactive experience which asks the participant to stay seated for a prolonged period of time. Any movement away from the chair and its sensor will reset the experience. Each part appeared at three separate pop-up art shows:
Stay, Pt. 1: Interpersonal Connection
August 2024 for the “Navel” Pop-Up Art Show, in the “Nave” room at the California College of the Arts, SF CCA Campus.
This first part focused on the power of a shared experience. In its unattended state, the projector shows an endless stream of mobile app alerts along with a soundtrack of alarms and notification chimes. The sense of anxiety and FOMO is triggered by these all-too-familiar ringtones and bright color pop-ups.
Then the participant sits down on one of the two chairs, and over the course of about 30 seconds half of the visual field’s alerts diminish to nothing while the audio also quiets to silence. Part of a sandy beach can be seen. However, that is only half of the screen.
A second participant is required to sit on the other chair for the same long time, yet something new happens: both people are treated to a unique experience. With both people firmly seated, the screen is completely replaced by the long loop of an beachfront vista with slowly rolling waves. The soundtrack becomes the calming susurration of crashing waves and sparkling water popping on the sand. An acoustic guitar begins playing softly in the background. The sunset appears and casts a warm glow everywhere.
This experience is meant to show the power of taking a much needed respite in our busy days, and when the moment is shared with another individual we become more connected to each other and the environment.
A rudimentary “sit sensor” was constructed out of plastic poster board, copper tape, and wiring. The sensor was tucked under a chair cushion to hide its presence. Closing the circuit by sitting on the switch triggered pins on an Arduino Nano, which was connected via USB to a hidden laptop.
The laptop ran a server app that monitored the Arduino for a change in signal, and a web page polled that server for status. The web page was designed to go between the states of:
- Unattended: a cacophony of random alerts with a busy audio loop of notification sounds
- 1 person seated: random alerts were quieted on the side of the sitting participant, audio volume was also lowered for that person
- 2 people seated: all alerts removed, ocean loop shown, the sound of crashing waves, and a soft guitar soundtrack
Stay, Pt. 2: Inner Experiences
August 2024 for the “Nice to Meet You” Pop-Up art show, at the Upper Market Gallery, SF.
The second showing of Stay presented a completely new experience, and it reused the same technology from Part 1. The theme of this pop-up art show at a gallery was “Nice to Meet You” where gallery visitors would be encouraged to get to know the artists and their motivations towards their art. For me, I took this as an opportunity to create a narrative around the person we show to other people versus the inner anxieties we hide.
Participants would approach a single chair that faced a screen showing a neatly-ordered backdrop of tiled squares. Through the cracks between the tiles, the participant can see some nondescript movement. Meanwhile, and single pulsating particle of medium size darts across the screen and random intervals.
As they sit down, the tiles slowly fall away to reveal the scene that has been hidden all this time: a chaotic spinning shape among a flurry of particles randomly moving and shifting about. The viewer is required to stay seated for almost a full two minutes. When all the tiles have dropped away into the abyss, there is no more order left and the raw energy at the center of it all creates a sense of continual change.
What I wanted to communicate in this piece was the curated facade that we put up on our resumes and our tidy homes as we receive visitors. We put on a good show to intentionally create a world we want other people to see using our photo filters and clean editing. And yet, there are parts we can never control. Then, when you sit with a person for a longer time, you come face to face with the fact they themselves are just barely holding it all together. Life is chaos with so much unpredictability that even though one can try to curate a sense of order, it is all temporary.
The same technology setup was used, except an LED monitor took the place of a projector due to lighting and floorspace considerations. Also no audio was present. The sit sensor tucked under the chair cushion signaled to the Arduino Nano which communicated to a backend server running on a hidden laptop. The laptop showed a web page which polled the server and triggered one of the following experiences:
- Unattended: a white tile grid covers the entire screen, except for tiny cracks between the tiles which permit the viewer to see particles dashing about. On top of the tiles a single medium-sized particle darts randomly across the screen with no way to dismiss it.
- 1 person seated: one at a time, white tiles shake themselves loose and tumble down and away into the abyss. As more and more time passes the tiles fall away to reveal a spinning mass of blues and reds. Hundreds of particles in a starfield randomly move and shift sizes.
- 1 person leaving: as the person stands up the tiles fly back quickly into their original ordered grid, hiding the inner mess just below the surface.
Stay, Pt. 3: Perseverance
September 2024 for the “Shift” Pop-Up art show, at Jackknife Studios, Oakland, CA.
The last and final presentation of the Stay experience focused on a change of perspective. The theme of this show was “Shift”, and this piece interprets that as what may happen if we push past the naysayers and inner voices to achieve a sense of accomplishment.
As the participant approaches the experience, the chair sits vacant in the shadow of a dark screen. One can barely make out words associated with failure and all the ways we encounter “no” in our lives. We are at the ground level of this pressure that is pushing down on us, with hazy flutters that randomly move in the shadows.
And then the participant sits. Slowly, but surely, the view begins to move upwards as if the participant is riding a slow elevator up. The dense dark wording and cold architecture begin to fall away as the person ascends. The view becomes lighter, the buildings begin to open up, and then organic shapes begin appearing. Rolling hills of green begin to be seen as the participant continues to rise above it all, and the messaging that creates the architecture also changes from words of “no” to words of “maybe” and “possibility”. Finally, the participant is flying high in the open sky with no obstructions and a final word settles into view: “patience”. This is the final sequence, and the viewer finds the word “patience” is surrounded with radiating glimmers and a slow pulsing aura.
Again, the base technology was leveraged while the assets and code were updated. The sit sensor tucked under the chair cushion detects a person sitting and the web app running the art experience moves between these phases:
- Unattended phase: a shadow is cast over the entire screen with words of “no” and doubt barely legible in the darkness. Mysterious flutters zoom in and out of view.
- 1 participant seated: as the person settles into the seat, the view every so slowly begins to ascend. The shadows begin to recede and the flutters are hidden.
- Rising phase: as the words begin to drop down and away we realize we are stuck in a cold confusing city partially of our own creation. Through the breaks in the skyline we can begin to see other buildings but they are a bit lighter and have different messaging. While the tone is still negative, there is a glimmer of possibility.
- Fast rising phase: now the skyline is fast falling away revealing organic forms: peaks and valleys. The messaging that creates this town is also changing to a sense of openness and exploration.
- Skyward phase: the participant is now flying well above all messaging into open space. As we reach the peak of the ascent we can see some glimmers.
- Final phase: the participant is now settled at the zenith after having sat for minutes at this point. The word “patience” finally fixes in the center of the viewpoint, with radiance pulsating from the word. After this long journey through all these phases we have a chance to reflect on how we might ourselves move forward towards our goals.