Nostalgia Project

The theme for this group project is nostalgia. We approached this project by brainstorming the following categories:

• Personal associations with the word nostalgia

• Potential form and media

• Defining principles for the project

Our personal associations were varied including kinds of music, certain words and types of color. This discussion led us to agree that choices about aspects such as hue, sound and scale would be important to the project.

We ultimately agreed on three primary principals against which we can evaluate our choices. First, the project should have some degree of abstraction. We would like to avoid an entirely figural or linear interpretation of nostalgia. Second, interactivity between the viewer and the piece must be a central component. Finally, the project must evoke a feeling of nostalgia (the opposite being, for example, the literal depiction of a moment where someone is nostalgic).

Although we did not come to any conclusions about form we had several ideas. We discussed an interactive video projection. We then took this further to include motion sensors on objects within the room. These objects would trigger separate projections as the objects are moved. The idea would be that interacting with an object triggers a memory, experience, or feeling. Perhaps there would also be randomness (or some sort of algorithmic determination) so that different events could be triggered for the same object adding some level of unique experience for the participants. This might depend a lot on the method used to track the objects. The possibility of overlapping projections (literally or figuratively) and of having the projections interact based on viewers interactions were discussed.

The specifics of the idea have not yet been determined nor have the roles that each of us will take.