Deep reflections
An interactive installation creating an emotional journey to access deep and hidden emotions.
Inspiration
The german word Rausch describes a multi sensory experience in which a human’s or animal’s emotional perception is heightened and the logical thinking is reduced.
Rausch [rauʃ]
Masculin noun
- intoxication, inebriation; drugged(-up) state, high (inf)
- ecstasy (liter), transport (liter), rapture; frenzy
Even though a Rausch is often perceived as a destructive state of mind it can be useful to overcome psychological defence mechanisms. A similar approach can be seen in Dance Therapy or Bioenergetics; there movement is used to unlock deeper feelings.
The goal of this installation was to create the feeling of a Rauch but without the destructive side effects. Instead a mind calming experience that could help to unlock blocked traumas was created.
Design
A multitude of mirrors is attached to a half dome in which the user can step inside. Each mirrors is able to rotate freely on two axis. A ring in the floor emits light which is reflected by the mirrors to create different patterns.
The user is recorded by cameras and analyzed through Laban movement analysis. The resulting mapping of movement to emotion is then used to alter the angles of the mirrors in such a way that a new emotion is perceived. This is done for a set of emotions until the user leaves the installation and pereceives an afterglow.
The following video is a visualization of three examplatory emotions and the resulting mirror movements. As the interaction with such an instllation is a novel experience for most users but also for the designer the final movements would need to be designed using a somaestheic design approch, meaning the designer would need to be in the space to feel the effect of the movements.
