Multi-sensorial Visual Communications Exploration

Kaleidoscope of a
Transparent Painting

This project is about exploration on the use of multiple senses and how it can change the experiences we have in our every day life. This project centers around visual communication and is broken into 3 parts: a zine, an art installation and packaging design. However, they are all linked under this one theme of a multi-sensorial experience.

Here is a trailer that provides a brief insight to the project (based of the final art installation):

So what is a Kaleidoscope of a Transparent Painting?

A kaleidoscope is an experience of a myriad of colour that combines to create different patterns and experiences. Paintings are likewise. They are visual experiences of colour that tell their own story. What does it mean, however, for a painting to be transparent?

The question here is this: Can we still have a rich colour experience, like that of a kaleidoscope, despite not being able to use the traditional way of viewing the painting and yet still get the “painting” experience?

My project hence wishes to explore the idea of engaging with multiple senses, thereby allowing for a deeper and more enriching experience of the world.

Outcome 1: Zine (Painting through sounds)

We hear sounds everywhere and it is all around us. Is there a deeper experience that we can be a part of with regards to sound? How do we turn the sounds that we hear into a painting? The aim of this outcome is to get participants to realise the possibility of communicating what they hear into something visual. This is the union of their senses of their hearing with their sight and how they feel whilst listening to sounds.

This will be executed through the creation of my own soundscape, consisting of a variation of sounds that will be turned into a music soundtrack. Out of this soundscape, I also drew a landscape to match.

Here is the final landscape and soundscape outcome:

I will then let participants hear the soundtrack. They will then paint a picture (could be done abstractly with colour or they can draw an actual landscape. This is freely based on their interpretation) based on what they hear. I will proceed to interview them on how they felt whilst listening to the soundtrack, before showing them the landscape that I was actually constructing. I will compile the outcomes and present them into a zine.

Here is the final zine outcome:

Outcome 2: Multi-sensorial Art Installation

What does it mean to step into a space and be fully immersed in it? What is it like to engage with our different senses together? The aim of this outcome is for participants to become aware of the possibility of engaging with more than one of their senses at once and for them to start to explore this possibility, even when they have stepped outside of the installation and into their daily lives.

This outcome was carried out in an art installation format. Over the course of one week, a room was created and participants were invited to experience it for one day. The art installation experience combined participants' 5 senses through the use of different elements such as sound, light, colour and texture. This room is based of the imaginary landscape and soundscape that I have created from outcome 1, and allows for deeper exploration beyond sound and visual painting. This is done through allowing them to interact with different exhibits (such as through different coloured boxes containing different textures, for instance).

Here are some pictures from the installation:

This was a sketch of how I wanted the installation to look like:

This was the final outcome:

Here is the final art installation video, including the overview of the entire room, the process behind the installation as well as reactions from participants who got to experience the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klm0mbMZ_s0&t=624s

(youtube link as the file is too big)

Outcome 3: Memorabilia

This outcome is about turning the Kaleidoscope of a Transparent Painting experience into merchandise. The idea is for participants of outcome 1/outcome 2 to be able to bring home a memorabilia (goodie bag) containing different elements that will help remind them of their multi-sensorial experiences. This is in hopes that they will continue to remember the multi-sensorial experience and apply this in their every day lives, even after the project has ended.

A packaging for a goody bag was created. This goody bag was transparent to reflect my project title and made colourful, along with other objects that had various textures (to reflect my theme):

Some other things the goody bag contained were postcards (a variation of the cover designs from my zine), pompom keychains and earrings made out of yarn.