40 SECONDS: Suicide Awareness Installation
This installation started out as an infographic project about suicide awareness. Although after some research I found out there is one death occurs approximately every 40 seconds. I think that single piece of information is powerful enough to make an impact. I decided to alter my project and make it into a real-time spatial installation, named 40 seconds.
Part One: I used common objects such as ladders, a glass dispenser, paint, a blank canvas, and an Arduino board, with a servo motor. Every 40 seconds, the installation releases a certain amount of paint from the top of the ladder onto the canvas. Every time the paint splatters on the canvas, it represents that someone has just committed suicide somewhere in the world at that very moment. To the viewer, this installation gives them a physical representation of those unfortunate events. This also builds a connection between the audience and those who have just committed suicide. In between each splatter is 40 seconds of silence. This creates an every unsettling atmosphere for the viewer and makes them feel somehow vulnerable.
Part Two: After every 100 splatters, I would replace the canvas and frame it into a painting. Each of this painting represents 100 people who have just committed suicide.
Installation and Film: Jove Hu
Instructor: Ryan.Dorazi
Special Thanks: Miles Mazzie, Wesley Ching, Matt Ravenelle
Year : 2018
Music: For The Feeling by Silent Poets feat. Leila Adu
One More Light by Linkin Park (RIP Chester)