Mood of the Planet (2015)

Artist
Vibeke Sorensen, concept, architectural installation, smart-tile (“digi-tile”) technique, Pure Data/GEM graphics and sound programming, animation and music

Media
Glass, steel, wood, custom electronics, twitter, real-time animation and music

Exhibition Premiere
Mood of the Planet was installed in the NTU ADM Gallery as part of the Everything is Data exhibition curated by Dr Laurene Vaughan of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University that took place from 14 August – 26 September 2015

Description

Mood of the Planet is an interactive sculpture, a dynamic architectural installation that has as its center-piece a large ‘arch’ or ‘doorway’ that emits colored light and animates in reflection of the live emotions expressed by people all around the globe communicating through networks such as Twitter. It rethinks the term ‘public art’ in the context of global social transmodal transmedia. The ‘arch’ or ‘doorway’ is iconic and references developmental transformation, the metaphoric passing from one state to another, of growth and change that is analogous to the transformative effect that global communications technologies have upon our collective human condition. The arch also signifies human transformation of the environment, today both physical and digital, as this iconic form has been used across cultures throughout human history. This ‘doorway’ is reflected within a wall-mirrored room where it is repeated into a tunnel-like shape, an infinity of doorways that exist as an endless cycle, or echo, of past and future in space and time, and collapsing into the eternal present. A wooden pathway traverses the room through the doorway, and connects the two mirrored walls and thus creates the ‘infinite’ pathway for the audience to walk upon.

The arch sculpture is made of 30 building blocks of ‘digi-tiles’. Consisting of crushed recycled glass and custom electronics, they emit colored light and the colors and shapes change in real time based on a real-time analysis of keywords representing human emotions, emanating from sources such Twitter and from all across our planet. The current mood of the people of the Earth through color and motion thus become an immersive presence, a dynamic rainbow that bathes us in light.

Mood | Color Relationships
1. Fear: white/black
2. Disgust: brown/yellow
3. Happiness and pleasure: green / gold
4. Sadness: blue/grey
5. Anger: red/black
6. Surprise: patterns and multiple colour combinations

Interaction
Passage through the arch to the far side triggers rainbow colours

Twitter data
Twitter data is sampled for keywords representing the 6 moods in continuous real time from all around the world. The installation is being updated every minute and each minute is divided proportionally according to the 6 moods

CREDITS

Collaborators

Mr. Fabrizio Galli, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU Singapore, design and fabrication

Dr. Marsha Kinder, Emerita University Professor, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California, USA, mood-color relations

Mr. Dennis Low Peng Thiam, NTU Museum, NTU Singapore, technical development

Mr. Ong Kee Sing, NTUitive, NTU Singapore, fabrication and installation

Mr. Nagaraju Thummanapalli, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU Singapore, hardware and software systems and programming

Thanks

NTU Museum, School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)