Project Name
ADesirable
Project Description
An interactive storytelling installation about data extraction using brainwave and other biofeedback data
Year
2018
We live in a world where targeted advertising becomes our norm. Our online cookies, browsing history, social profiles and any online activities can become part of the “Big Data” that companies utilize to extract useful information that increases the chance of us purchasing and consuming. Meanwhile, we voluntarily opt-in for gadgets and devices that track our data, knowing the fact that such data might be repurposed and come back to us in forms of persuasion.
This installation is a surreal portrait of the process where we voluntarily give in our most intimate data–brainwave activities as well as bio-feedback data such as blinking and moving. Such data are translated visually into consumerism metaphors such as storage cloud, banner ads, and shopping cart items. When our desire and thinking cause instant feedback that makes it easier than ever for us to be targeted and to shop. Will it soon be a reality?
There are four screens–four parts to the surreal data extraction storyline. Every screen has a main triggered interaction, powered by a visitor and her opted-in bio-activity.
Scene2 starts with a three-dimensional void. As soon as the visitor looks around, the gyroscope within the brainwave sensor will detect her perspective. The scene will constantly surround the viewer with populating pop-up banners.
Scene3 utilizes visitors’ blink to easily add items to a shopping cart. The brainwave sensor detects the muscle pull around users’ eyes. Every blink counts towards adding an item to the shopping cart. Making a purchase has never been made easier.
Scene4 is the ending scene where users’ movement, tracked by a leap motion sensor, will have a pulling force of every other activity symbol on the screen.