INDN 341: Creation vs. Destruction

Today we looked at deciding exactly how to run the project. One of the critical elements that we need to decide on is the aspect of the project that we want to focus on. The problem that we're currently facing is that it's highly likely we won't be able to make both a creation and destruction aspect of our project. The concept for the creation side of the project was to build a machine that used a pressurized water jet to make an imprint of the users face/hand.

The second idea was for an installation that would revolve around the destruction of the confessions, as opposed to the creation of them. The rationale for that is so that the viewers and creators of the confessions/secrets have the comfort that their confessions will be destroyed, as well as getting the satisfaction and pleasure of reading other people's confessions and seeing them getting destroyed.

To figure out which one we actually wanted to make happen, we started up a big 'ol grand list of the pros and cons of each method. The creation side is definitely the idea that sticks to the original idea more, however, that said, the project now belongs to all of us, and doesn't actually have to follow the original plan at all. The beauty of the creative aspect is that it handles the creation of the confessions, as opposed to waiting for confessions to come to it.

The current consensus is actually to roll with the destruction concept. The aspects of this project that we really like is the potential for the project to be expanded to any conceivable size, as well as the inherent wow factor of an installation piece that moves and dynamically destroys things. People like watching things get destroyed. The destruction that we want to use is still tied in with water, and could be used in a variety of ways. One of the ways we're thinking of that could be quite successful would be to use fog or steam, as that has a gradual degrading effect on paper or PVA. Alternatively we could use a low flow water feature that drizzles water down through the destruction machine.

Since we're rolling with the destruction idea, the idea that we have is to have a progressive system that passes through the water demolition line multiple times. This cuts down on the difficulty, and also means that we can have the confessions get destroyed more and more over time, until they are completely illegible and eventually fall apart.

These are the main parts that we have to develop. It's going to be a tall order to achieve, but it's not impossible by any means. I think we can get all of these components working.

Next is to develop our plan for the presentation! We have to show the class how awesome our team is going to be!