Picnic table 2032 (2020)

Picnic Table 2032 is an interactive object that is designed to be a mobile meditation station/table for both indoor and outdoor spaces in the near future. This designed object began with two questions: What makes nature look like nature; and, how does the substitute of nature generate the nuances of nature? 

      ‘Nature’ in this project focuses on the forest vegetation surrounding human living spaces. Peggy Wu and others have used virtual space to examine mental health rehabilitation as treatment tools for people who work in an isolated place, such as a spacecraft, although they are still examining virtual reality’s long-term effectiveness (Wu, 2015). If seeing nature is effective enough to trigger the feelings of being in/close to nature, then do we not need to see a literal image of nature?

      At the exhibition venue, a user lays on the ground, placing their head on a small pillow under the table. While supine underneath the table facing the screen underneath the table, the weight of their head triggers a green-forest video to play on the screen, the weight of their head acts as a control for the speeds of the video on the screen. The screen, facing down toward the supine users, plays interactive moving images that are activated by audiences’ participation (i.e. interaction of head and pillow). The moving images are composed of overlaid green forest scenes and intentionally form abstract figures.