MICROCOSMS by deepanjana from india

Introduction:

India is a country of varied seasons and climatic conditions. They range to extremes as you travel from one part to another as well as in one place round the year. Each season sends in a change. For instance in winter the months of summer are eagerly awaited, for the warm sunny afternoon it brings along. But when the days stretch hot and dry you wait to feel the rain drops on your face. Here a season is often spent in anticipation of the next to come.

‘Microcosms’ is an exploration based on this anticipation. When you pine for cool breeze, waiting for a leaf to nod. You can glance at your table and see a miniaturised form of the breeze that might blow at your beck and call.

What is it:

‘Microcosms’ is trying to capture the essence of the weather you long for, in a jar. It miniaturises the grand forces of nature and weather phenomenon for you to keep. They are contained in the form of simple anticipated experiences of warm sunshine, soft breeze and light rain.

Jar of sunshine:

The jar of sunshine brings you sunlight from dawn to dusk, all day long. You can see the reddish glow of the morning sun move to a bright white afternoon and progress into an orange glow, overtime. You can look at the warm changing colours of the sun and the moving shadows it brings, when you long for sunshine on a cold dreary winter day

Jar of rain:

The jar of rain brings you shiny raindrops falling in a puddle of water. It creates beautiful ripples, splashes and brings to you a mini rainfall at your desk. It reminds you of what how water splashes felt like in your backyard and brings in the experience of rain, when you long for raindrops on a blazing afternoon.

Jar of breeze:

The jar of breeze brings to you a feather fluttering away in soft breeze. Allowing you to lose yourself in the undulations of the floating feather and reminisce of pleasant breezy afternoons.

All the jars create a small, contained world for you, where you imagine yourself to be a part of the microcosm taking you away from current surroundings. The jars create a tangible experience of natural elements before you. They move away from digital simulations and construct experiences through dynamic physical elements creating your weather in real time.

Scope:

Considering the modern scenario of many individuals spending a great deal of time indoors at desks in workspaces, where the connect to nature is very low, ‘microcosms’ can serve as a connecting link between the people and nature by allowing them a glimpse in to the world of natural phenomenon outside.

How does it work:

A functional proof of concept prototype of the project has been made to explore and communicate the idea. The mechanisms have been made to fit inside a custom made cap. They have been made using simple mechanisms, motors, pumps, and Arduino controller boards. Each jar comes with its inbuilt lighting system to create the mood for each jar. The jars are made of glass whereas the caps are made using thin strips of wood.

How we proceed:

Having successfully made proof of concept prototypes, the next task would be to refine the prototypes to achieve higher aesthetic quality and elegance in visual as well as working mechanism of the device.

Our background:

We are a team of interaction and new media designers with backgrounds in mechanical engineering and visual arts. We like to work with various mediums and experiments with new projects. Our work ranges from explorations in interaction design to craft processes.