Conversational Tablecloth
2014
fabric, SMD lights, copper wire, breadboard, ardunio uno, copper cloth, conductive thread
4ft x 3ft
Group: Kelsey Lee and Ajoa Donkor
The table cloth was cut to an ovular shape with a pattern ironed on. The weight sensors and SMD lights were sewn and connected to circuits. The circuit connections were ironed and sewn on the underside of the cloth. The tablecloth is meant to be used by four people; the lights on the table help move the conversation along. The subject of the conversation is randomly chosen and is housed in a tea pot. To move the conversation along the speaker has to move the teacup from the sensor pad and then the light will turn off and turn on toward the next person.
This project is still in the process of being made, there are some electronic difficulties that have to be solved before this art piece can be completed. Conversational Tablecloth is a collaboration between Ajoa, a Senior environmental design major, and I.
The beginning of the project was about getting a small audience to interact with each other using a form of actions. While I was studying abroad in Italy, I was able to visit the 2013 Venice Biennale. At the British Pavilion and the Iraq Pavilion audiences were served tea and some traditional tea cakes. Nether pavilion artists or commissioners, Jeremy Deller of the British Pavilion and RUYA of the Iraq Pavilion, stated if this was a planned occurrence or not. What I found interesting about these two actions was that both countries have a history of tea drinking that has become a common cultural behavior. Both countries and many others have developed a form of manners, for those involved have to learn and understand those manners. Any disruption outside those manners is considered rude; these manners are like another language. The act of drinking tea and having a person complete the actions of drinking, eating, and teatime etiquette are like the Happening movements of the 1950s.
For Conversational Tablecloth, Ajoa and I wanted a controlled conversation through the use of directional lights to create an artifical teatime ediqute. But we were also curious if anyone would break those manners too. The conversation would be directed by the lights on the table and the questions in the tea pot are a mix of mundane to controversial subjects. Four people have to be sitting together to enable the tablecloth to work. The lights choose one person to pick a question in the tea pot as a main subject. It is read out loud and then each person has a chance to speak. By picking up a tea cup in front of them, they are giving the next person a chance to speak.
The table cloth was cut to an ovular shape with a pattern ironed on. The weight sensors and SMD lights were sewn and connected to circuits. The circuit connections were ironed and sewn on the underside of the cloth. The tablecloth is meant to be used by four people; the lights on the table help move the conversation along. The subject of the conversation is randomly chosen and is housed in a tea pot. To move the conversation along the speaker has to move the teacup from the sensor pad and then the light will turn off and turn on toward the next person.
This project is still in the process of being made, there are some electronic difficulties that have to be solved before this art piece can be completed. Conversational Tablecloth is a collaboration between Ajoa, a Senior environmental design major, and I.
The beginning of the project was about getting a small audience to interact with each other using a form of actions. While I was studying abroad in Italy, I was able to visit the 2013 Venice Biennale. At the British Pavilion and the Iraq Pavilion audiences were served tea and some traditional tea cakes. Nether pavilion artists or commissioners, Jeremy Deller of the British Pavilion and RUYA of the Iraq Pavilion, stated if this was a planned occurrence or not. What I found interesting about these two actions was that both countries have a history of tea drinking that has become a common cultural behavior. Both countries and many others have developed a form of manners, for those involved have to learn and understand those manners. Any disruption outside those manners is considered rude; these manners are like another language. The act of drinking tea and having a person complete the actions of drinking, eating, and teatime etiquette are like the Happening movements of the 1950s.
For Conversational Tablecloth, Ajoa and I wanted a controlled conversation through the use of directional lights to create an artifical teatime ediqute. But we were also curious if anyone would break those manners too. The conversation would be directed by the lights on the table and the questions in the tea pot are a mix of mundane to controversial subjects. Four people have to be sitting together to enable the tablecloth to work. The lights choose one person to pick a question in the tea pot as a main subject. It is read out loud and then each person has a chance to speak. By picking up a tea cup in front of them, they are giving the next person a chance to speak.
