GRAFFITI INTERACTION FOR STRANGERS

OVERVIEW

Graffiti Interaction for the Strangers was an on-site installation project for Bushwick Collective, the “outdoor gallery of graffiti artists from all over the world.” By hacking urban spaces, the project proposed a new way of engagement with space while encouraging interactions between strangers of this community.

Context

Design Challenge of Parsons School of Design, Fall 2018

People

Karen El Asmar (Team), Harpreet Sareen (Advisor)

Tool

Processing, Leap Motion, Projector

Tag

0. BACKGROUND

Design Challenge

Teams are required to create an on-site installation, which can open up the interaction and communication between strangers in the city; meanwhile, enhance the connection between the people and space.

1. RESEARCH

After searching for locations, we chose to focus on Bushwick Collective, the “outdoor gallery of graffiti artists from all over the world.”

1.1 OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION

LACK OF NIGHTTIME GRAFFITI EXPERIENCE

NYC is considered the place where graffiti originated and is very famous for its street art which forms an important part of its history and subculture. Yet, these art pieces are usually only experienced during daytime.

HUMAN-GRAFFITI INTERACTION PATTERNS

Daytime — Taking pictures with or for the graffiti and posting them on social media platforms.

NightTime — Apart from the main street which is lined up with bars, restaurants and clubs, most neighboring zones are quiet, dark and feel unsafe.

1.2 DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE COMMUNITY

Young People — The major age group of this community is young people, aging between 20 and 35.

Gather on Weekends — They mostly visit Bushwick with families and big groups on weekends for fun around the graffiti art area and in the bars nearby.

2. DESIGN CONCEPT

2.1 MAIN APPROACH

2.2 OPPOTUNITY FINDING

Almost all the walls in this area are occupied with graffiti. However, only one white brick wall in the central area stands out. Many people pass next to this wall on their way to the restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

  
    How can the empty white wall become a medium for strangers to mingle?

    How can light and shadow enable collective composition and open up conversations between strangers?

2.3 EXPERIMENTS

Direction For Prototypes

Experimenting with different affordances & interaction patterns to attract passersby — Painting Experience, Brush Sizes & Color, and Roles of Participants.

2.4 FINALIZED CONCEPT

Three roles of participants

▸ "Controller": the one who create projection "graffiti";

▸ "Actor": the one who directly interacts with the light and shadow on the wall;

▸ "Spectator": the one who stands aside and is expected to be the upcoming actor or control.

Interactions between strangers

▸ Coversations between controllers and spectators are opened up when they try to figure out how to control the installation.

▸ The collected composition process contributes to the communication between the controllers and the actors.

3. PRODUCTION

The Form of Audio Description Is Yet to Be Innovated

The interaction experience was coded on Processing and incorporated the use of Leap Motion to track users’ hand movements, which enabled “draw by hand” interaction.

Prototype Testing (Leap Motion + Processing)

Set up the Installation on Site

4. FIELD TEST

We set up the installation on Sunday night at Bushwick Collection. Without providing any instructions, we observed afar how people interacted with the installation and with the strangers. During the hour-long observation, we spotted two mingling patterns, which indicated the success of our design approach, in opening up the conversation between strangers on the site.