Stillness and Chaos

Interactive Wall Installation

As a designer who is learning new concepts and ideas everyday, my personal philosophy on design is ever changing as I grow. I remember when I first learned about Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi. Less is More vs. Less is a Bore. I remember thinking to myself as the lecture was going on, who do i agree with? Which designer do I relate to more? I felt like maybe I should choose a side.

But, then I realized…
No. I don’t have to choose a side. It is okay to agree with both, see innovation in both, see beauty in both. Which I do.

Personally I find beauty in stillness and chaos. Different beauty, but it is still beauty. As I look through my past projects I see this stillness and chaos come out at different points. I did a project last year where the only objective was to make someone smile. I ended up doing my first wall installation. But, before I chose a direction we researched what makes people happy? Of course, it is different for everyone. Take a second and think to yourself, the first thing to come to your head, what makes you happy?

Essentially a reaction to an action causes emotion. I wanted a positive emotion. I had people build their own personal collages with images I provided that included different scenery’s and arrangements of color. From these collages I learned that people like still mountain scenes, and they like the movement of a city. I ended up creating an installation that mixed stillness and chaos with color and light. The wall installation was made out of acrylic shapes that were placed onto a backing that had red lights beaming into them. Under the backing were gears and sensors that would move these pieces. As a viewer got closer to the installation the pieces would move, then closer and then pieces would move faster. This creating a visual display of light that was personal to the user. The end results was chaotic, but still as well. The moving lights placed into a still environment created a beautiful display that made the user feel delight.

So i’ve realized as a designer I will be finding and developing my process and design philosophy as I go through my career. That sometimes it depends on what project you are doing, and it isn’t wrong to bring two very different concepts together to create your own.