Project 1 Self Critique

For this project, I wanted to create a piece of interactive art that creates a light-hearted and dreamy tone and encourages the viewer to be optimistic and keep their head in the clouds. To create this piece, I deconstructed a framed mirror and painted onto it the phrase “keep you head in the clouds”. After that I painted clouds onto cardboard, cut them out and adhered them to the edges of the mirror. I specifically took the mirror out of the frame and placed the clouds breaching the edges because I wanted to emphasize that idea of creativity and being limitless with no bounds or constraints. The color scheme I chose was monochromatic blue with hints of contrasting gold. I think that these colors working in tandem both united the piece with the natural environment and made it stand out from its immediate surroundings because of the gold. I decided to use a mirror because I liked the idea of a nature collage where from afar the piece looks like it’s placing a piece of the sky in a place that’s more accessible– in this case, the piece was placed a short distance from a busy on-campus sidewalk. I also liked the idea of the mirror because it causes the viewer to identify themselves at an angle they normally wouldn’t have come across.

Something that I think that I did well was creating a clean piece that was successful in conveying a dream-like tone. I also had a lot of fun incorporating a medium I’m more familiar with (painting) with the interventional interactive aspect of this project. If I were to do anything different, I would reconsider the time and placement of the piece. When it’s so early in the morning– in this case it was around 10a.m.– the busy parts of campus aren’t as busy as I expected. Furthermore, a lot of people walk while looking down at their phones, so having the piece off to the side wasn’t very attention-grabbing. Ultimately, I’m very torn between liking the idea that only a select few people saw the piece versus wanting more people to stop and look. The few people who did give the piece a second look noticeably paused and smiled at their reflection before carrying on whereas the people who didn’t look just simply didn’t get that minor experience. Because this was my first 4D interactive piece, I’m happy with the fact that it was a more intimate piece that didn’t reach a large audience; I saw the piece and overall interaction as nothing more than a pleasant surprise as the viewer goes about their day.