MailboX - Vivid Sydney Interactive Installation.
MailboX is an installation at Vivid Sydney 2017 that I built together with a bunch of friends to inspire individuals to be more positively connected outside of just the traditional medium. I conceived the idea from my own experience in a long distance relationship where I often exchange letters with my girlfriend (and now wife!).
The original idea is to have two mailbox connected in different places within Sydney. It was meant to sort of act as a portal to another point in space that connects people together. We definitely had to de-scope due to the budget and planning. Nonetheless, it was a cool opportunity to get my hands dirty on hardware design, animation, and fiddling around with electronics.
Team:
Isabella Bain (project manager)
Khanh Nguyen (software engineer)
James Rotanson (designer and animator)
Anthony Zeater (hardware engineer)
Chris Simpson (hardware engineer)
MailboX uses the traditional shape of a post box with an illuminated with a LED façade to recreate messages into entertaining interactions. For this iteration we have chosen to use Emojis, as they are a modern rebirth of Hieroglyphics – an early form of written communication - and create a contrast between the traditional post box and letter shape that allow the viewer to question the importance of written communication and how we are slowly losing that capability. A participant can send a digital message to the mailbox of their experiences while at the Vivid festival. Through audio analysis the Mailbox will also respond to the excitement and volume generated around the MailboX visualising the conversation generated from Vivid audiences.
