MEDIA GUARDIAN INNOVATION MEGAS AWARDS

Here I have attached the photos in order according with the text introduced in the application form, (in the area where shoud be the upload of the picks),

Context report (brief summary)

The context report as a theoretic piece of work where it is possible to clarify concepts through its research, analysis and debate pushed my understanding of concepts like PLAY, CRISIS and their possible ways of interrelation. I divided this body of work in several chapters which I am going to briefly summarize here.

Transferring the properties of the playful: but it is possible to transfer some characteristics of an object or situation that is accepted as playful in some culture or social commuity to an object or situation that is not. There is a challenge for the innovative thinking alongside the design processes and techniques to completely transform structures, systems and actions from its mere functionalism to its interactive stimulation of our capacity to play.

Playful intrinsic meaning of the object:
This characteristic makes the object or action recognizable for a culture that shares the standards that the object is communicating, it is not the same perception of the playful for the point of view of the oriental culture than for the occidental, although there are some common characteristics innate in the human nature and as a consequence of the globalization in terms of comsumption habits and marketing strategies. A toy a puppet or a swing are objects that are globally accepted as playful today throughout the different cultures.

Some the possible characteristics of the playful

Playful materials:
Things that are conventionally stablished as playful are made with a vast range of materials, like wood, plastics, synthetic and organic fibers and metals, but the characteristics of these materials change from objects that are not traditionaly catalogued as playful and the ones that are, for example the special features like bouncing, elasticity and spin.

Reflexion about the term playful

Why play or playful? And what is playful?: I have to find a reason, probably because is one of the most innate and innocent faculties in the human being.
It is not just about playful things, that is why those that are catalogued as objects that embody the characteristics of play, there are objects, substances and materials that normally we don’t identify as playful but potentially they are.
Things can become playful if they are used in a specific context and performing something specific.
Water is not a playful element itself, it can be used for different things, to drink, to get a shower, to clean our clothes, but if we design a thematic park were water is the main element we are creating an environment were the water is the main character and people is interacting with it, water has become playful. Same when it is used to fill balloons and start water war in summer.
I have seen some other examples when water become playful as for example the waves in the sea to do surf, or the fountain in Russell Square that interact with the people that approach to it.
A cube is not a playful object, it is basically a shape that can be used for different matters, for a box, for a house, etc…. but if I give him internal mechanism and movement it turns to an object which with I can interact, and therefore it becomes a playful object.
Same happens with other objects as for example a rope, it has several uses as we know it can kill, but if I hang it from the ceiling I can use it to climb through or as a liana to swing.
It can be playful just the use of the color.

Some examples of those interventions, for example the group of people that stops suddenly in a station in different body postures, the viewer is socked because it is not normal it is outside of the normal context of an station where everybody is hurry to take a train or a bus, the distraction can change some minds, can change the humor of an stressed worker or of someone that has lost the train.
Another example is the group of people that goes to the tube naked, it can cause the same effect of the last example.
Another example is the surprise produced by the fountains in South Bank during the summer, they have the shape of water walls that interact with the people provoking surprise and susto.

When there are used playful interventions to relieve stress, it is important the voluntary participation of the user, he/she decide to use the playful thing to feel better or generate abstraction from the reality.

But when the intervention is about to provoke a situation that produce an stimulus that has to overlap the previous stress situation, the distraction is produced without the consent of the user, the surprise effect is essential.
It is all about to design DISTRACTIONS (think in unexpected distractions, the surprise effect is essential) ,in different ways, and how these distractions can produce the re-interpretation of the reality by an individual or a collective of people affected by these. The distraction has the task to abstract the victim from his/her reality, worry, stress or crisis situation ( when a stress stimulus is used to relieve another crisis and make you wake up to balance the importance of your previous crisis situation).

The speech done by Onkar Kular, was very interesting:
The research of some environments, as the snow area where people can sky inside, embodied in completely opposite other ones was another point to take in account when he was talking about the changing context of something.
The project based in the research of some thematic parks and playful areas in China, was done as a part of the change things from one context to another, for example the transfer of some classic American Icons as the Walt Disney characters in a Chinese version, or the Jesus Christ in a performance for children, included some souvenirs.
He got the idea again of change context of things and applied them in some examples as the Charles Chaplin in the V&A provoking a reaction in the people in the enclosure, or the performance of Elvis Presley in a conservative school.
All this examples show that sometimes changing context of existing things can get interesting and weird reactions, through the reinterpretation of something in other context).

(this is an influence in different aspects in my project, it proof overall the possibility to design experiences)

This is an example of my experiments that explored the concept of ‘Deflection Distraction’ in this case using the game of chess as a tool to design an experience. This object questions the potential of a conventional game to embody a new element that reverses its own conventional rules. This design conserves the same objects but reverses its meaning. each piece is made with chocolate and depending of its value it has to be filled with an strong or soft flavor, so when the opponent lose a piece and suffer the crisis effect of ‘lose’ has to eat it. If he loses the queen he will experiment a strong spicy taste that will deflect him from the feeling of lose.
I learned from this project something that will be used later in my process, I included a ‘reality within a reality’, here in this game co-exist two realities, one is the chess itself as a conventional game with its rules, and the other is the modification introduced by me which in a way transgress its rules.

While I was experimenting with balloons, one of them exploded and the people who was around me, me included, distract us from the tasks we were doing. This accident changed the direction of my project to start exploring the third of the points, what I called 'Deflection Distraction', basically the idea consists in design stimulus or experiences that distract the user from the thoughts he/she was experimenting before. It works specially when the thought is negative and is deviated before it becomes an obsession that could provoke pain or illness.
I designed an artifact and a game related with this concept of deflection distraction during the model week in the college.'The ring' was an experiment that cosist in a pice of cloth that can be worn around the neck, and with a tie which is draged while the user is walking. When somebody see that the user is lost in thoughts, he has the chance to distract him steping in the tie provoking a pull in his neck, fact that deflects their attention.

This is an example of a unusual therapy, stage where I was exploring ways to relief stress. This therapy consists in tear out paper from the surface of something, like walls, and to experiment the pleasure of the feeling while modifying the physical scenario. Through this action the user relief his tension through physical exercise, among other things.

From this point I started experimenting with ballons in different ways, this video shows an example of one of these experiments, playing with energy produced by the air to produce movement.

These objects inspired me to start developing ideas based in its properties, utopic landscapes where people can interact with its structures that can be used in different ways, as a way to break spatial boundaries to create spaces to feel the other, as a therapy to combat the stress produced by the external intrusions in our routines bubble.
These sketches show the idea of an interactive space where people have fun with the elements and objects installed there. Since there I started to focus in therapies to combat the consecuences of these external intrusions that produce stress, and objects that could relief it.

After this series of prototypes I started exploring other ways to enrich the project. As I was saying in the point where I left the blog before christmas, I was developing small briefs to explore objects and activities that we see as playful and its relation with the individual, which I catalogued according with their age.
The first small project was focused into explore things that children that are between 6 and 12 years old use to play with or consider playful (apart of videgames and electronic devices). The research demostrated that they like, among other things, objects that have the capacity to bounce as balls, balloons, springs, trampolines, etc....

Here is another idea that I called the 'spider net', it is another way to connect two structures, in this case two buildings, in a different way to break the boundaries that prevent the freedom of access and performance of the individuals interaction. To do that I changed once again the context of a commonly accepted 'playful object', a swing that we can find in the beach or in some playgrounds, that consists in ropes disposed in a way that weaves a labyrinthine structure where the user have fun while is exploring the different stages throught the action of climbing them.
In this uncertainty the user has the feeling of being lost but at the same time the hope of finding someone or something within this structure keeps the user in constant movement and research of the space.

There it was another idea that comes from the inspiration in the Tate Modern installation in 2006, where three huge slides were placed in the Turbine hall. I used this idea but to connect buildings, I used the roller coaster as a vehicle to break the spatial boundaries among buildings and to provide other ways to access them.

Hi, here I am again!, sorry about my long absence, I have been very busy but I have time now to continue blogging the process of my project.
Before continuing from the point I left the process last time, I have to add some relevant models and ideas that have been impotant to develop this project and that I forgot to add.
There are three models that were part of the series of designs related with my obsession to break spatial boundaries, and give the spaces a playful element that break its routines.
I started applying existent structures that we can find in places like playgrounds or fairs to urban espaces to interconnect its structures like buidings, etc...

The 'Hammer' is a popular machine in fairs and I used it in this case changing its context to connect two buildings, and give the possibility to enjoy the same space in two different locations or structures.