DigitalCraft Wiki:KWARTET

Starting Point

The starting point was the “infra-ordinary” project that i worked on with Leo in quarter 9

Trigger

The trigger that i derived from this project was making the unconscious conscious, regarding daily life and the surroundings. This was also the trigger for our collection of poems, writing our whatsapp chat history on a typewriter, and encoding the alphabet based on the time it takes to write characters by hand.

Element Choice

Elements i wanted to work with were the typewriter and poems (familiar work method) and analogue coding (unfamiliar work method). At this point I developed the concept for a manual for writing poems. The goal was to depict a contrast between facts and emotions and to develop an objective way of writing, by way of following certain steps and literally writing down what you saw. Reflecting on this i thought of a tool for displaying emotions, so people could understand each other more easily, a sensory keyboard and text that transforms to image while writing.

Change of plans

After reflection, experimenting and some philosophizing i changed my concept: Nowadays we live in a very rapid pace. We are guided by the clock instead of our sensory time or biologic rythm. There are stimuli everywhere and all around us. There are increasing numbers of digital tools or incentives that make you do more in less time. This confronts us with the loss of “real” or “experienced” time. Modern technology and social media became a big part of our lives. Most of the time, when we walk the streets, sit in a train or attend a lecture, we are stuck to a screen. I noticed that because of this, people stopped experiencing and appreciating their surroundings. Ask a commuter about the person sitting opposite of him. Big chance he can’t tell you who it was, or what he or she looked like...

The focus for the tool i wanted to develop was on:
- manual for senses
- to create attention
- interaction
- accessibility

Experiments

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Final work

The City Quartet Game

The aim of the quartet game is to trigger people in a playfull and interactive way to take a better look around them . It focusses on everyday items many people stroll by, without taking the time to appreciate their beauty. The city is the playground and the cards give guidelines and are a way to challenge yourself. It can be played in every city or urban area and people can connect with each other through playing.

Playing the the game you have to collect as many quartets as possible. The quartets can then be uploaded in a database and shared with other players. This way people can appreciate the similarities and differences of each other’s surroundings.

The cards are printed on see-through material. You make a picture through the card. This way you frame the object and it’s surroundings. Each persons quartet has the same theme but will look different, since the object or person being photographed has different characteristics, such as colour, facial expression, background, etc.

The game is inspired on the quartets card game (known in English as “happy families” ). It has some important elements of the game:
- 7 catagories of 4 objects.
- You collect 4 objects from the same quartet or family.

Big difference is you can’t win or lose. The goal of the game is to change perception of your surroundings, to share your experience, and to broaden your observation.