Conversation
two people, rice, bookbinding plastic, strings
dimensions variable
This work aims to capture the dynamic synergy between two people during a conversation. The pendulum swing passed between the two participants aim to show different experiences of time in different conversations. Participants are encouraged to push the rice half-hourglass like a swing as they talk to each other. The gestures, energies and tempo between the two people will naturally influence the way the rice bag is pushed. When pushed forcefully or at certain directions, rice might fall out. Some might see that as time lost and will try to keep the swing going without any rice lost, others might find it fascinating to keep pushing and letting as much rice out as possible. Ideally, I’d like the conversation between the two people to last 20 minutes or more. In the first few minutes, people are inclined to be intrigued and curious about the rice bag in between them, so the way they play with it will not become natural until they are uninterested in the bag.
Video is a snippet of the first conversation, I turned off the camera to make them feel more comfortable telling their stories.
PROCESS OF IDEA DEVELOPMENT
This idea started when I was playing with cocoa powder to try and capture my fingerprints. I accidentally blew on the cocoa powder and it scattered everywhere. I thought what if our breath could determine the time in which sand passed through an hourglass, and thus changing the way time is experienced. I thought the agency of breath was poetic and meaningful, especially in capturing the energies of conversations. I made numerous iterations but I realised that the force of the breath when we talk is minimal in changing the flow rate of cocoa powder in the hourglass. I tried different aperture sizes of the funnel as well as materials from sugar, salt, flour and ice.
When I realised breath was not enough to manipulate the materials, I made contraceptions that connected the face, jaws and hands to the funnel. That was again unsuccessful because participants became hyper aware of the yarn on their faces. I decided to reduce it just to hands but it was not until I hung up the funnel with the set up of the chairs and small table that I realised the ricebag itself was enough as a pendulum.
