Convening with Kin: Love ↪ ↩ Surprise

Convening with Kin:
Love ↪ ↩ Surprise

What is ancestral touch? How might I conjure ancestral love and surprise through haptic, textual, and visual media?

In this exploration I returned to earlier material insights/interests relating to embedding poetic text, and messages of love within bioplastic. My goal was to synthesize/push on some of the earlier ideas by creating poems and letters to my deceased Libyan grandmother, and reflect on how to commune with the media of my kin, through design media.

Additionally, I finished wiring a parallel circuit with 7 ERM vibration actuators, with a wireless Qi coil charger.

Prototype 1


Assembling materials including bioplastic sheet, LRA vibration actuators, ERM vibration actuators, wiring.
 
Above: Editing the visual imagery before processing as ascii text image




Above: Portrait of Libyan ancestors processed as ascii text imagery
 

Above: process of creating bioplastic forms with hand-made mold, text and ascii image on transparencies, dye.













Above: Final view of the 2nd bioplastic poem/portrait with ascii image, text, dye, 7 ERM vibration actuators (including close-up views).Size 20 x 36"

Prototype 2


Above: I took my poems/letters to my grandmother and remixed them with an early natural language processing (form of AI)  reordering algorithm. This allowed me to both keep private my messages to my grandmother, while also inviting viewers to connect with the intention and emotions of the poems/letter.



 

Here is a short video showing the bioplastic being laser cut: ss_lovesurprise-lasercutting


After preparing text as vector file, I laser cut the bioplastic. I chose to lower the power since the material is delicate and varies in thickness. This resulted in an effect where most outlines are cut out, but few letter centers fully 'fell out'. I also think my instinct to place the bioplastic on thin coated paper was a good move, because it offered a solid support to move the bioplastic on and off the laser bed. Without that it would have been very difficult.




Above: Final view of laser cut poems (backlit). Size 14 x 20"

Successes

  • Embedding text and image transparencies worked. Embedding the images and text into the bioplastic within clear and dyed areas, resulted in an affective, and poetic result.
  • Scaling up the bioplastic. All previous bioplastic prototypes I made were much smaller, and less thick.
  • The actuators all work!  They vibrate and generate a wonderful sound when placed on a hard surface.  The ERM actuators vibrate and generate a wonderful sound when placed on a hard surface.
  • I was able to gain familiarity with vibration motor actuators (this included learning about LRAs and ERMs, and analog voice coil actuators)
  • This was my first time working with wireless Qi coil chargers, how the function, and how to wire them! Wireless prototyping is very helpful for wearable / portable / kinetic prototypes.
  • Working with toggle switches (learning how these function, where to order these, and how to solder them!) These are wonderful, cost effective discreet on/off switches that I have never worked with before.
  • Wiring a parallel circuit (and learning to test during the prototyping stage, individual actuators).

Challenges:

  • The wireless charger is a little fussy. The placement of the Qi Coil on the wireless charger I purchased has to be ‘just so’ (very flat, and flush) to be able to charge. This makes me curious about other wireless charging options. I am curious about solar wireless chargers.
  • The battery I used is only strong enough for 7 actuators running for about 90 minutes. To run it longer I would need a bigger battery.

Critical reflections / Future improvements?

  1. Stronger vibration, and better integration of actuators:

    —  Damping / delicate placement. The bioplastic is too heavy and dampens the vibration. To deal with this challenge I lightly ‘wove’ the actuators into the edges of the bioplastic. They are sitting within little ‘holes’ or just under very very thin edges of the bioplastic. This means the vibrators are installed tenuously.

    — Different actuators? Based on earlier explorations this semester I would not be able to make large sheets of bioplastic thin enough for these ERM actuators and still hold together, so I think that means I either need stronger actuators or more power? I do not have enough knowledge of vibration actuators to guess what would work so I will need to try different actuators.

    — Servo motors? ‘Testing’ with an audience, led me to think about including bigger motors (like servo motors) placed underneath the material.  However, I am not sure how I would ‘weave’ these with the bioplastic? I think the movement would have to be ‘back and forth’ in 180 degree movement as opposed to fully circular. My hypothesis is the bioplastic might hold up to 180 degree (or less) rotation, but would tear with constant 360 degree rotation? Another idea would be to have actuators that move up and down (without any rotation or sideways movement) to make the bioplastic shimmer or shake.

  2. Playing more with ‘weaving’ of the materials. I was able to experiment visually with ascii text portraits of relatives, and poetic text layered into the bioplastic, (and the dye I have intermittently been using all semester), however, I would be interested in trying more ‘layering’ with these.Another idea might be to experiment more with ‘weaving’ (braiding?) the electric cords.
  3. Playing with the material affordance, and affect of the ‘biodegradability;’ and ‘instability’ of the bioplastic:
    The bioplastic is ‘unstable’ because of its biodegradability. This is an affordance I embrace in terms of its ethical and ecological implications. However, I wonder how to play more with the affordance of the biodegradability to design a form that erodes and reveals new surprise over time? Could this be another form of ‘surprise’ or ‘love’? A slow erosion that reveals new layers?