Katherine Hua – Looking Outwards – 12

“Funky Forest” by Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille (2007)

The first project that I admire is called Funky Forest, created by Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson, creators of high-end interactive installations for children. Funky Forest is an art installation in the Singapore Art Museum acting as an interactive ecosystem in which children can bring trees to life through their bodies and use physical logs to control the flow of water from the waterfall to the trees. The children use this water to water the trees and keep them alive. The health of the forest and everything that resides within it relies on the basic health of the trees. Funky Forest is an interactive and collaborative experience for children to create their own stories and go on their own fantastical adventures. I enjoy this project because it places an emphasis on meaningful interaction and systems build to support open play and discovery while creating a sense of wonder and delight at the same time.

The second project that I admire is the projects of Lorna Barnshaw, a virtual/glitch sculptor. She uses 3D technology to print three very different sculptors, using herself as her model. In her series called Replicants, Barnshaw fuses self portraiture with 3D technology to create sculptures that give off an eerily, sub-human feel to them as Barnshaw uses computer glitches to that are unable to accurately 3D print the scan; thus resulting in a sculpture with humanistic qualities that are distorted at the same time. I admire this project because it finds a platform for fine arts in an area where 3D technology is revolutionizing science, medical, and design worlds.