“I Can't Breathe” is a soft robotics data visualization of the black deaths at the hand of police brutality in North America over the last 10 years.

https://ashleyjanelewis.com/2019/05/06/i-cant-breathe/

Description

“I Can't Breathe” is response to the disturbing video of the last moments of Eric Garner’s life after a violent police engagement. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/23/559498678/i-can-t-breathe-explores-life-and-death-at-the-hands-of-police.

This is a soft robotics data visualization of the deaths of black people at the hand of police brutality in North America over the last 10 years. The lungs will be suspended inside an acrylic display box. A small screen will be mounted to the front of the box. This screen will display the date, slowly counting up from May 5th, 2009 to today. The lungs will oscillate gently with a breathing motion as they are filled and emptied with air. On a day when a black person unjustly died at the hand of a police officer, the lights in the display box will dim and the air will be completely vacuumed out of the lungs, causing them to shrink significantly. The name of the deceased will display below the date. When the piece finally reaches today’s date, it will start over again at May 5th, 2009. This experience will happen over the course of an hour, though, based on the data, the audience will be able to glean the concept within 2-3 minutes of observing the piece.

This project will be powered by programmable air and a dataset from Black Lives Matter.

Classes

Exploring Concepts From Soft Robotics