Conceptualization
In class, we learned how to turn lights on and off using buttons. I wanted to turn this into an artwork and incorporate areas of fine art within. When deciding what I wanted to do, I thought back to the relationship between technology and humans. Technology can give birth to new eras in human history and spur development; meanwhile, it also has the potential to control us, as seen by the increasing reliance on social media and the fear of artificial intelligence taking over the world. I wanted to create a sort of embryo that symbolizes this, highlighting the birth of new possibilities that incorporating technology and art can bring.
render
Idea sketch
Drawing
For these figures, I took inspiration from my art history class, where we discussed various surrealist artworks. I took parts of the human body and squeezed them into tiny confinements that symbolize the embryo. The human body appears compacted and yet to be developed.
I based the shape of these figures on the rendered structure seen above. These shapes represent a futuristic cabinet used to nurture human embryos. I made sure to correspond the sizes of each cabinet with the figures as I was drawing.
Prep
On the weekend, I visited the lab and began assembling the pieces. I recall there were unused acrylic boards at the studio, and I was lucky enough to find a few lying around.
I consulted the ITP staff on how to use laser cutting. Big shoutout to all the ITP staff for being so helpful and answering my questions, no matter how rudimentary they seemed.
I learned how to use a file in Adobe Illustrator and convert it into a file that the laser printer can use. I also acquainted myself with the various settings of a laser printer. The printing process took an absurdly long time and multiple runs. In the end I was happy to have 3 clean boards in hand.
While printing, I stumbled across these discarded acrylic cutouts, which sparked an idea in my mind. I used these acrylic pieces to represent the outer structures rather than using paper cutouts, which I was originally planning on doing. I believe this result turned out much better in the end.
Technicality
After I was done with the previous steps, I moved on to the more technical elements. I knew I had to create an extension for the light bulbs to have them all connect to the breadboard. I consulted the ITP staff, and they recommended that I try soldering. They walked me through the steps, including how to hide the exposed wire with a plastic cover.
After using a lot of patience, I managed to solder 5 light bulbs, which I taped behind each of the drawn shape.
Breadboard+Coding
The breadboard has always been an area of confusion. Even after consulting the ITP website module, I still had to ask the ITP staff, who managed to find an online circuit diagram for me to follow. The end result was confusing and honestly a shot in the dark.
For my code, I followed the format we learned in class and added 4 additional lightbulbs. I wanted each lightbulb to light up one by one, so I kept the delay in between.
A moment of Joy
When I got back home and tried it for the first time, I was expecting it to fail for sure. There are so many things that could have gone wrong, and I was so surprised that almost everything worked the first time. It was a genuine moment of triumph.
Upon checking, I realized that I had just entered one number in the code incorrectly. After that simple fix, everything worked perfectly!
FINAL RESULT
