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Interactive & InstallationConnection to the Absent
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Connection to the Absent
Interactive Installation, Mediation
Foam, MDF, Clay
4m*4m*2m
Design Brief
The tombstone establishes a mediated connection between the living and the dead. Rather than enabling direct communication, it reveals mediation itself as a form of connection.Through mediation, presence is sensed through absence.
Inspiration
For centuries, humans have sought to erase the boundary between the living and the dead. In the nineteenth century, spiritualism brought it to its peak—yet it failed. Perhaps communication has never been possible. What exists instead is mediation.
Design Concept & Details
Specter Display
A figure hovers within the tombstone as a specter display. The image appears almost immaterial: physically, it is a presence that is not truly there. Yet this absence begins to suggest another kind of presence, as if the departed lingers precisely through not being here. There is no visible body, only a framed void and a silhouette shaped by absence. After death, the elements that once composed a person no longer remain within a fixed form, but disperse into the world around us.
Yin and Yang
The circles on the ground mark the boundary between Yin and Yang. Yang is associated with light and the place of the living, while Yin is associated with shadow and the place of the dead. The tombstone stands between them as a mediator between the living and the dead. To approach it is to move between shadow and light.
Heartbeat Connection
The heartbeat of the deceased can be felt through the palm. This vibration carries a sense of life, not driven by a motor but generated by falling water. Beneath the surface, a delicate mechanism begins to respond. As the hand presses down, water is released, droplets begin to fall, and a pulse emerges, felt through the hand as the heartbeat of the deceased.The entire installation operates without electrical power. Its energy comes from nature: rainwater gathers above and becomes the source of each drop, while sunlight enters the tombstone through layers of reflection, quietly illuminating the specter display.
Mediated Connection
Mediation introduces a third element between two opposing states, creating a new relationship among them. Unlike communication, which involves the transmission of information between a sender and a receiver, mediation establishes connection through the presence of the mediator. In this project, the tombstone acts as a mediator between the living and the dead, creating a connection between them.
Exhibition
Prototype Iterations
From the first version to the latest, these prototypes document the gradual development of the project’s emotional tone, visual mechanism, spatial field, and final installation form.
Prototype 01
Functions as the emotional tone board for the entire project.
This prototype explores how to evoke a sense of warmth and intimacy as the viewer interacts with the tombstone.
Weaving prototype.
Prototype 02
The first attempt to combine the specter display with the tombstone form.
Cardboard prototype.
Prototype 03
An in-depth exploration of the visual principle behind Pepper’s Ghost.
Through this process, the project begins to reveal the ambiguity and philosophical tension between presence and absence.
Prototype 04
An exploration of the transition between presence and absence.
Through energy transformation, it creates a condition in which the body appears visually absent, while the “spirit” remains perceptually present.
Prototype 05
An investigation into establishing a field.
The concept of Yin and Yang begins to emerge, along with negative space.
Prototype 06
The latest iteration, bringing together the previous explorations, while remaining open to further development.