De Voorkamer
"De Voorkamer" is a beautiful organisation located in Utrecht. By offering all sorts of workshops and events they try to create connections beyond the obvious. Culture, language, habits, looks: none of it matters as long as you accept the differences between people.
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One of their main focuses during anything they organise is translating the feeling of safety. During my visit at their location during a jam session, one of the participants mentioned how he misses the plant Jasmine (referring to his hometown where Jasmine was everywhere). He said that he couldn't find Jasmine anywhere until he came to "De Voorkamer". That story, I believe, shows what this place is all about.
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To accentuate the feeling of safety, or as "De Voorkamer" likes to call it 'Safer Space', the students of my class were asked to create a nonverbal tool that can be used as an icebreaker to communicate these norms and values of "De Voorkamer" while inviting the participants to start conversation and interaction.
Duration: 9 weeks
Software: TouchDesigner
Iterations on the background:
Behind these visuals hides more than meets the eye. Based on the blue tones of decoration at "De Voorkamer" I started brainstorming and quickly found myself thinking of the sky, the universe and water. . With helium and hydrogen being the very base of our, and the planet's existence, there instantly was a connection found between these topics. The universe often reminds people of how insignificant we and our problems are in a pleasant way. By getting reminded how tiny of creatures we are, often times we are able to let go of the heavy burdens we sometimes carry with us through our daily lives. Water has quite a different effect on us. Not only is it one of the most important substances of our existance, it also is proven scientifically that living prone to water increases our mental health, feeling of wellbeing and lowers our risks for obesity and premature death.
With the Northern Lights, planets and seaweed as an inspiration I started adding some textures to the slowly moving, blue surface. By tracking movement through a simple webcam, it was possible to slightly influence the green highlights in real time by moving in front of the camera.
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After some iterations it was established these slight changes in the highlights would not invite the participants enough to keep moving and try out new things in front of the camera. This was when the little dots came to life. Reminding us of the stars and little bubbles, they move along with us as we move in front of the camera.