Julia Rich, Stefan Skripak
Interactive garden that invites viewers to touch and discover.
Description
We present our interactive garden project we are lovingly calling Garden. Our goal with Garden was to design a tangibly stimulating playground. Inspired by experience in arts education for children, Garden was designed by Skripak and Rich for a young audience. We love the way discovery takes a tangible form for children and wanted to create an experience with as many textures as possible. We invite viewers to touch each piece of the fully fabricated set to discover the hidden ways the garden moves. We sculpted, took molds, and cast nine fungi out of resin and silicone. The cave, log, and all rocks and pebbles are made from a mixture of recycled paper and glue that turn into an almost concrete substance. Each flower, blade of grass, and creature is handcrafted from different fabrics with distinct scents added to many. We have four main interactions, some with more complex time-related variable than others. We have a plot of grass that moves wind through bushes when you run your hands through it. if you pick up a rock, glow worms will begin a countdown and creature will pop out of a hole if you wait long enough. If you push on the big fungus one by one smaller fungi will light up until we reach a grove of flowers. There is a creature in a cave that if you move quickly towards, will run away and hide, but if you approach it slowly, it will allow you to pet it. We are really excited to watch viewers interact with the garden and are excited by the opportunity to present it to many more.
Classes
Introduction to Physical Computing