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The Great Tree of Sacrifice

Regina Cantu De Alba, Utsav Chadha, Woraya Boonyapanachoti

The entanglement of religion, ritual, consumerism and hair.

http://www.worayalab.com/blog/fall-2016/art-strategies/

Description

The Great Tree of Sacrifice is a conceptual and participatory art installation that tries to narrate the bitter truth behind the hair industry. Wigs and hair extensions have recently become increasingly popular. The parties involved are oblivious to the reality about where and under what circumstances the hair is collected and manufactured. Impoverished women in southeast Asian countries, under religious beliefs, get their heads shaved and sacrifice their hair under a false sense of blessing. However, they are unaware that the same hair is used to earn millions of dollars each year.

The installation is designed in the form of a Hindu/Buddhist temple money donation box, and requests the participants to donate a strand of hair to the box. Henceforth, a fan circulates air in the box and renders the donated hair futile for any use.

The entire installation is built using trash.

Classes

Art Strategies

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talkTable

Utsav Chadha

Conversations become more interesting when you look away from your device, and talk to the person in front of you.

http://www.utsavchadha.com/2016/12/05/pcomp-final-project-proposal-talktable/

Description

It's a common sight to see people seated at a table busy with their phones, and not interacting with each other. TalkTable is a device that attempts to separate the users from their phones and supplement conversations between people in a physical setting such as a restaurant, bar, conference or orientation session. The device is activated when the participants place their phones into a designated socket. Once activated, it encourages the users to engage in various conversations about varied topics.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing ITPG-GT.2301.005