The waterfall of life
Humans are good at accidentally creating new viruses, but not good at removing viruses. When everything is over, there will be proofs, data and figures about the patients and the dead, as well as research on the economic impact of the virus on each country. Collecting evidence of "existence" is also important, which provides an artistic testimony to how the virus affects people. This is also the original intention of this project, making art a witness.
produced by: Qianhui Fan
Introduction
Since the discovery of new coronaviruses worldwide, various countries have different attitudes towards the epidemic. In fact, our attitude towards the epidemic is our attitude towards life. Because people have different understandings of various values (including life and death), even in the face of the same things, people's choices will be very different. These differences also include the selection, formulation and implementation of policies and institutions.
Background research
Different political systems have different strategies for epidemic prevention. China's institutional advantage is that it is a big government and can control a lot of resources. Citizens are more dependent on the government. Citizens are willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of the overall situation. Even if they pay the economic cost and increase other social problems, they can bear it; on the contrary, Western governments have limited functions and the ability to dispatch resources. The government is unlikely Use extreme treatment to deal with the epidemic. Citizens in the West will not allow their right to health to be exchanged for freedom, which is a manifestation of different values. When considering the epidemic prevention, the Western government pays more attention to the satisfaction of the people's sentiment with the government's anti-epidemic measures, and also considers economic factors and the government's maximum governance capabilities. The West has formed a civil society, and not all resources are concentrated in the government. There are many non-profit organizations that can organize citizens to save themselves through civil forces (NGOs, churches, etc.) when disasters occur. Therefore, individuals rely less on the government and more on the government. tolerant.
The Chinese are very persistent in wearing masks, and even most citizens can achieve home isolation for up to 2 months. The most impressive policy in the UK is the concept of group immunity. Mass immunization has occurred many times in European history, and it has achieved good results against smallpox, measles, etc., but has also suffered painful casualties. The mortality rate of smallpox is 25%, which is much higher than that of this new coronavirus, so the government thinks it can be applied to the new coronavirus. Of course, this policy has also been collectively opposed by hundreds of British scientists. The flu has already occurred in the United States very early. And because of the outbreak of influenza, the number of deaths is still rising, but the United States has not effectively controlled the epidemic, which has now become the country with the largest number of infected people. The most worth mentioning is the country of North Korea. In fact, its preventive measures are very good. Perhaps it is really like its public data is 0, but there are often exaggerated news releases. For example, North Korea directly executed a shot after finding an infected person. As long as people think about this kind of news carefully, they will find it full of loopholes. But why the media is still tirelessly spreading this news is also very worthy of our thinking. Is it because we are too accustomed to stereotypes, so let the media so arbitrary?
My concept
The waterfall of life, the meaning of this name is very obvious at this particular time. The current epidemic in the world is still very serious. Behind these shocking data are thousands of fresh lives. The data updated every day is the disappearance of life. Behind the data is also the fragmentation of countless families. Any policy discussion that is out of the national context is meaningless, and I cannot judge its right or wrong. I just want to sincerely record it to witness it. For example, these very representative countries: China, which insists on wearing masks; the United Kingdom, which has not abandoned its marginal role (hobo, lower class) and emphasized the importance of the whole; the virus has spread to the United States everywhere; North Korea will be exaggerated and slandered under the circumstances. In the form of cameras and voice control to record what we did at this moment. Let the audience think about what metaphor is behind it and what is controlling it.
Detail/Technical
The project is based on Openframeworks with addons of ofxCv, ofxKinect, ofxBox2d and ofxPS3EyeGrabber. I used the code to make a virus model. It looks like a crystal ball. It looks beautiful and fragile but with lethal toxicity. This graphic reminded me of the heart, so I extended a similar heart, subtly matching the virus and life. The cube that continuously divides and changes the human body is a metaphor for the consciousness of "community of human destiny". Every country is an indispensable part of the global industrial chain. The global supply chain is a pair of dominoes, and any piece that falls out will move the whole body. Each block is combined to form a complete body. When the audience speaks different country names, different picture effects will appear, corresponding to the most characteristic behavior or result of this country. The fallen figures symbolize the infected and dead people, pouring down like a waterfall. Many balls on the screen are swimming like viruses, it even breathes (it can zoom in and out), it is looking for its host, so the audience can interact with it and try to avoid it!
Future development
At first, I tried to use Kinect to recognize the contours and joints of the human body, and I could have a better interactive effect. But because I bought the second generation and it was mac computer, it caused a lot of problems and had to give it up. But I will then try to use Kinect, such as how to make the number like a waterfall fall on the human body and bounce off; when the human hand moves, a virus will appear; the walking virus will be integrated when it touches the human body , This is a very exciting effect.
References
https://junkiyoshi.com/openframeworks20180825/
https://junkiyoshi.com/openframeworks20180630/
https://junkiyoshi.com/openframeworks20200221/
Vanderlin. Examples in ofxBox2d. 2020. https://github.com/vanderlin/ofxBox2d