Chien and I partnered up for the Physical Computing midterm to create an interactive pinwheel piece. In Chinese culture, a spinning pinwheel symbolizes an outward flow of bad fortune and inward flow of good fortune. In other words, a reversal of luck. We wanted to apply that concept to an art school context to create an “inspiration generator” of sorts. For students, fast deadlines and other high-stress situations can have a myriad of negative effects on the brain and body, including creative deadlock. A student in search of a reversal of such non-productivity can blow on a pinwheel to find a helpful strategy for creative renewal displayed on the center screen. Working in a team? Partners can spin both pinwheels at once to generate strategies tailored for 2 or more people.
For visual effect, a queue of LEDs will also light up in sequence as the pinwheel spins.
Our Processing interface will feature an animated pinwheel (yes, repurposed from an assignment that I submitted for ICM) that will spin when data, via serial communication with the Arduino, is generated through interaction with the Piezo vibration film sensor. Strategies will be placed into strings and displayed at random.
Prototyping in progress…
If we have time, we’d also like to explore adding a musical component…