The project Lunar Vibes was created over the course of three weeks in the course Design Materials and -Technologies. We were asked to transgress temporal boundaries and create a soft interface for a posthuman/transhuman world. Three other requirements were present:
The interface needed to be developed in co-operation with the surrounding world
The interface needed to contain one (or more) non-human elements
The interface needed to integrate contemporary as well as non-contemporary elements/methods.
lunar vibes
idea, design and production
(2019)
anine hansen, emma ottilie arendal, and nynne lucca christiansen
What is it?
The post-human artifact Lunar Vibes is a tangible connection to the universe and nature through the moon. Shaped like a small ‘stress ball’, Lunar Vibes is a soft interface which you take with you on the go as it fits in the palm of your hand.
Mediated through Lunar Vibes the user gains direct access to the emotions of the moon. This is done through small vibrations based on the moon’s current location in the sky and in the horoscope of the user.
The project takes its starting point in the theme of Soft Computation and examines a soft interface developed in co-operation with the surroundings. We found the soft interface to be very suiting in this context in which we were trying to mediate and map emotions.
the process
We quickly agreed within the group that we wanted to work with the planet and stars within the context of astrology. We chose the moon to be our material to work with which then would then become our non-human element while astrology can be seen as the temporal element. We wanted to explore how we could develop the artifact under the influence and in collaborion with the moon thus taking seriously how it affects our emotions.
In a concrete manner, the ball would then vibrate in relation to which star sign it was currently in, expressing the emotional state of that specific sign. Thus, if the moon was in aries it would then vibrate rather aggressively while in pisces it would vibrate softer and more out of rhythm.
The influence of the moon on humans is debated though accepted to some extent. We chose not to enter a larger discussion of whether or not it actually affects our moods and emotions and simply take this as a true premis in this regard. We are aware that many look askance at astrology and its arguments, but our goal was not to prove anything or convince anyone of the truthfulness of it. Rather, we wanted to explore a more holistic and sympoietic approach to the universe and our place in it. We wanted to mediate the moon to something more sensous through technology.
As the moon is said to symbolise feelings and emotions we wanted to find a way to express this through our soft interface. Through brainstorming sessions we rather quickly agreed on the model of a stress ball as the overall visual structure of our artefact. Furthermore, we decided on vibrations as the way of indicating the moon and its current influence on our emotions from day to day.
making the artefact
Lunar Vibes is made of an Arduino-board placed inside the foam with a cover around.
In making the artifact we wished to use an API in collaboration with the Arduino-board. However, due to the time constraint, we did not have time to make this work, ending up making the vibrations ourselves. We then had to choose and consider how the ball might vibrate if the moon was in the sign of leo, capricorn, virgo, libra and so on. This was a rather interesting process, as it challenged us to translate written descriptions of the signs into something unspoken, something that only can be felt.
We chose four signs for the presentation: virgo (the sign the moon would be in the day of the presentation), aries, pisces and scorpio, These were chosen due to their apparent varying nature from one another.
The vibrations might be illustrated as such:
Virgo: · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · (key words: methodical, analytical, industrious )
Aries: — — — ——— ———- - - - ———– (key words: enthusiatic, impulsive, aggressive)
Pisces: · · · ·· ······ ··. ·· · · ·· ··. ···. ·· · ·.:… · ··. · ··(key words: dreamy, creative, starry-eyed)
Scorpio: ::::: :::: ::::: ::::: ::::: ::::::::::::: :::: : : : ::(key words: passionate, intense, stubborn)