The Initial Concept

Concept Blog

After taking the mindmap as our starting point we tried to come up with proper concept. Taking in things like 3D spatial calligraphy and temporary art we tried to wrap the timelessness of the ottoman calligraphy in a user manipulated fast culture experience. We didn’t want to use buttons or levers and tried to use affordances as much as possible to come up with an intuitive model for user experience. We concentrated a lot on converting brainwaves, or other physical responses to different kinds of stimuli, into abstract calligraphy. After talking about psychopaths we came up with a shock experience to generate this kind of data. Using things like galvanic skin response and measuring the users expierence to bombardment of stimuli our concept started to take form.

Our concept is as follows.
An exhibition room is surrounded by ‘personal experience’ rooms. In a personal experience room a person sits down on a chair in the middle of the room. The chair measures galvanic skin response, brainwave patterns, pulse, etc. The user first gets put in a state of sensory deprivation to bring him into a kind of ‘null’ or trance state where he or she is suggestive to different types of stimuli. We do this by using darkness and anti-sound. When this state is reached, and read by the chair/system, the user gets bombarded by stimuli in the form of headlines from newssites or current events that are cut up and randomized. This happens for a few minutes to cause a reaction in the users mind which translates to a bodily reaction.

The data gathered by the system is interpreted and compiled, and projected as abstract calligraphy or imagery on the walls surrounding the chair after the period of stimulus is completed. This is the user’s mind/body experience calligraphy. The user exits the personal experience room into the exhibition room. Here the personal calligraphic representation is combined with those of the users in other rooms into a 3D spatial calligraphic ornament in the centre of the room using holographic projection. The environment is affected by the personal experience and the combined experience of the users receiving information from the global digital village.

We still need to consider these questions:

Do we need a test room so the user doesn’t get scared on first time use of personal experience room? (old people get heart attacks!)
An (chronological or otherwise) order to the pattern of the abstract calligraphy (2d & 3d) is needed.
What does the physical chair do to evoke body emotion/memory? Does it do anything?
How does our concept relate to everyday life? How’s it used in everyday life, practical application?

What would be my motivation to go there? What kind of interactions (slotmachines?) are possible or usefull? Decide on all the constraints. Size of room, prototyping the null state. Earplugs instead of antisound for prototyping.

First Lecture

The first lecture, called "A Look at the Art of Calligraphy from a Design Perspective", was done by Prof. Dr. Cetin Sarikartal, the Head of Communication Design Department. He started out talking about the mediation of ornaments as a source for different kinds of inspiration. It was important that we understood the difference between flimsy associations and the more confident association that comes from trying out different kinds of perspectives and seeing how they relate to each other. I'll try to outline the most important elements of his lecture below.

The first line of command in the Quran is "write & resight". And there is a response by the reader after viewing Ottoman Calligraphy. The writing itsself is a response to two things: the meaning of the word; the environment where the writing is performed. The place of writing, in Ottoman Calligraphy, is most important. In mosques the entire building is centered around the Calligraphic ornamentation. The rest of the art and decoration is all according and in accordance with the writing. It's a user experience in an architectural environment designed to purvey meaning in a multitude of layers.

It's important to understand that a 'figure-background' relation is completely different from the the interplay that is suggested by the calligraphy as an interaction between environment and writing. In figure-background relations the background is completely neutral, used to support the figure. But in Ottoman Calligraphy the writings are completely intertwined with the environment. The meaning of the word for Ottoman Calligraphy, or Ghüt, is 'line'. The etymology of the word is related to cartography, where pieces of land are divided by lines and this is reflected in the Ghüt. In a mosque an empty wall would be reflective of a wild land, an uncultivated jungle. A land cultivated by the people is reflected in a Ghut on a wall. It's adding meaning to an environment from within, relating meaning from the artist through the style in accordance with the environment.

The compositions reveal a deep sense of powerful order reflected from the Islamic culture. But the lines also reflecht the autonomity and freedom of the artist. The relation between these two suggest a strong sense of interaction.

There is a tension between intellectual aspects of Ottoman Calligraphy, used for control and distinction, and a populist aspect which is urban, religious and secular.