Looking Outwards-08 Creative Practice-Veronica

Eyeo 2015 – Meejin Yoon from Eyeo Festival on Vimeo.

Meejin Yoon: mystudio.us

I was interested in the works and creative practice of Meejin Yoon, the co-founder of Howeler Yoon Architecture, former head of the Department of Architecture at MIT, and dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University. Trained as an architect, she had always been interested in the interactive aspect between people and public space, and responsiveness of space and creating relationships between content and context within the public sphere. In the Eyeo talk, she focused on her work in the field of interactive public space projects that “bridge issues of technology and play”. Her work spans across a wide range of topics, including responsive technologies, interactive technologies, smart materials, renewable energy, media-based public art, public engagement, and the public process.

At the beginning of her talk she explained how she is a very private person, but working with the public sphere has made her realize how the environment and responsive space can have a strong impact on her. I find her workflow of defamiliarizing and refamiliarizing interesting, and the psychologic studies she went through in order to create spaces, where people will intuitively interactive with, where people won’t be intimidated to touch elements in a public space. I’ve personally visited one of her projects, the Swing Time, in Boston. The project mimics the rubber tire swings that people would build in their backyards, refamiliarizing them with the concept,  but also has an accelerator and an interactive lighting feature that responds to touch and speed.