The idea was inspired by a picture that I came across on Behance, which depicts a little boy who is hugged by the anthropomorphic wind. I was touched at that moment because I felt that even though people are lonely most of the time, especially at current extraordinary times, when everyone is trapped at home and barely has a chance to go outside, nature still conveys its beauty and inclusiveness to us.
Therefore, I started to think about making an installation that can simulate the hug from the wind. Initially, I planned to make it an immersive installation, physically hanging some feathers, cotton fibers or something downy from the roof of the room, which can be swing freely. But, after a discussion with my instructor Yeseul, we both think that is a bit complicated to build and perform with current conditions. Besides, the main idea for this project is to use the weather data collected from the weather band to create some music performance, so that immersive installation is lack of this essential component.
After that, I come up with this idea of making a wind pendulum. I planed to put the pendulum into a transparent container (shape is undecided yet). Since I still love the idea of wind hug, I plan to decorate the pendulum with downy materials but the materials should be able to make some sounds when the pendulum swings. I think I will try different materials to see if anyone fits my needs. I also planned to use a stepper motor on the top to control the rotational angle of the pendulum to represent the wind direction and a fan underneath to control the airflow rate inside the container to represent the wind speed.
Explorations:
Mechanical part:
I observed how branches swings in a windy day. The leaves attached to the branches rub each other and the tips of the branches curve more than the part closed to the stem.
Sounds part:
I expect the sounds that my installation creates to be gentle, without much hard beat. That reminds me of the sounds that branches and leaves made when the wind is blowing. To simulate that sounds, I tried plastic pieces from the soda drink bottle, the plastic bags, a bunch of pieces of paper to beat the glass.
Questions:
- How to send signals from computer to two motors synchronously?
- Any other way to show the wind speed? Currently, I show the wind speed through the rotation speed of the motor connected to fan?