// About 4four12

Project Thesis Proposal

We live in the technology age. Our society is driven by technology from product to the methodology in marketing the product. More and more consumer tech is produced in the name of progress, the line between want and need grows progressively thinner on the back of tools that have turned us from homo-sapien to a type of super-homonoid. These tools have allowed us to technologically progress further and faster than we have as a species in any other documented period of history. But at what cost?

In four documented place in the world there are what are known as “Blue Zones”. These are areas, that are known as hot spots with a list of common factors where people typically live well past the the world average for old age. The list of common traits is:

  • Family - Family is put ahead of other concerns.
  • No Smoking
  • A plant based diet.
  • Constant Moderate Physical Activity.
  • Social Engagement - People of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities.
  • Legumes are commonly consumed.

The four areas are all relatively remote and have a notable lack of technological advancement. They are:

For more info see Wikipedia

In a short article by Dan Buettner entitled “Can Social Networking Replace Face to Face?”, Buettner summises that there are several benefits of human connectivity, but programs such as Facebook don’t fulfill all of these by any means.

Are we progressing technologically at the expense of our heritage, and the innateness of our human condition that makes up who we are? Is this in turn causing us as a species to lose the vitality of who we are - similar to an animal being put into a zoo, out of our natural environment. I propose that elements of technology are taking us down a path that promises connection and furtherment, but is in fact pulling us further and further apart. It is also pulling us away from the core values that are proposed as being the mainstays of Blue Zones, and their results of successful healthy lives. My investigation is modeled via an installation artwork that deals with:

  • Materialism
  • Family
  • Connectivity
  • Homosapiens as a social animal
  • Surveilance

DMDN 412: Emergent Objects/ Performing Design - Paper Outline

Exploring complex contemporary issues in the field of digital media theory and practice, Emergent Aesthetics and Hybrid Performative Design (events/ installations/ objects) is structured through a matrix Final Year Project. A series of lectures of theoretical readings, workshops and a colloquium of invited guest speakers will cover a range of fields including: interaction design, experience design, tangible media, ubiquitous computing, experimental gaming and expanded cinema that represent the development of the Bachelor of Design. Through each student’s own independent studio practice and vision, students will be expected to create their own briefs and exhibit formal projects and construct a ’show reel’ documentary form to complete the degree. Invited critics will moderate the eligibility for graduation.