One more transformation....

Following on from my April blog showing the print of the 40 data matrix codes which represent the whole of MLK's speech I thought that it may be interesting to try to create a non-digital installation piece that, as with the original speech, could be placed in a public environment. 

I used black and white mosaic tiles which I arranged in the sequence of a code. I am pleased to say that like the digital image the code can still be read with the mobile phone application and takes you directly to this blog.

I considered public places where I could display my installation piece which were relevant to its content and where people would possibly interact with it. I spent time travelling around  different sites in London  and below are photograps of the places I visited and members of the public interacting with my work.




Students at the LCC Interacting with the work

 

The Offices of the British Institute of Human Rights London



Amnesty Internationl - The Home of Human Rights - London

Reflection of my data matrix tile in the Amnesty International welcome poster



Inside the Offices of Amnesty International

Floor plaque at Amnesty International

Speakers Corner at Hyde Park London

Speakers Corner at Hyde Park London

Transformers / Media in Disguise - I Have a Dream

Hi and welcome to my blog.

I am a student at the University of Arts London College of Communication and am completing my BA Hons in Graphic and Media Design. I would like to share with you my response to my final major project entitled Transformers and would be grateful for your thoughts and any comments about my work.



What is this project about?

My brief was to:


Take a creative piece of work that is successful, powerful and evocative which already exists in a sturdy media format, and place it into a new media format. Develop the original representation of the content in order to transform the original into a whole new piece. In order for you to capitalise on your destination media and fulfil the potential of this opportunity, you must analyse and understand it's strengths and weaknesses. The outcome will also depend on your initial choice. Work with something that genuinely stimulates and inspires you. Your objective is to communicate the piece in ways never before seen, and allow a viewer to observe and induce from new perspectives. 




I chose to take the film of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. It is an iconic and passionate speech that is still widely recognised some 58 years later by those famous four words "I Have a Dream".  It was a hugely successful speech containing metaphors, emotive language and repetition of words that were collectively responsible for bringing about change in racial equality and human rights. 


Here is a link to the You Tube film footage of the original speech given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Visualising Equality

My aim was to 'transform' this film into a visual representation of the entire speech without words, audio or footage from the film. I wanted to convey the message of equality which was the purpose and objective of the speech. I explored how equality can be explained visually and was surprised by how many ideas related to numerical language, a series of combinations and mono-colour.

Developing these ideas further I brought together combinations of numbers and mono-colour in the form of binary codes. Each letter of each word consisted of an 8 digit code made from 0's and 1's. Taking the 1,666 words contained in the speech I converted them all to binary numbers producing 68,229 separate 8 digit codes filling 14 pages of A4. Here is the first page as an example.



First Page of Binary code of King's speech

Binary Image

Binary numbers can also be converted into a binary image, where in the binary language 0's are represented by black squares and 1's by white squares. This links to my idea of mono-colour and to the content and purpose of the speech; equality. In order to view the image it needs both the black and white squares to work together and they therefore have equal value.

Collaborating with Computer Programmer Eric Barwell resulted in the production of a programme that was able to convert the numerical binary code into a binary image. Below is the resulting visual image which contains Martin Luther King's entire I Have a Dream speech.



Image showing Binary code converted to black and white squares

The 21st Century Voice

Exploring other mono-colour coding I was interested in data matrix codes. These are 2d codes which can be created and then deciphered by others by using the relevant free application which can be downloaded to a mobile phone. Each code can represent up to 60 words.

I thought that it would be interesting to try to take King's speech and convert it into this 21st Century medium. These codes when scanned individually convert back into the written speech or even a link to the original video itself. I created a set of 40 data matrix codes which are displayed together as piece of visual/graphic design in their own right but all can be scanned to reveal the words of the original speech which helps the viewer to engage with my work.

My 40 Data Matrix Codes (reading left to right, top to bottom)

As the original speech was an address to the mass public I decided that I too should share my transformation of this iconic speech with the public in true 21st Centruy style via this blog!




Give it a try

Since producing this work I have seen more and more data matrix codes appearing, mainly for advertising products and services. Like mine they can all be read  by downloading an application for a phone that has internet access, which app depends on the type of phone you have and they are available free from:

Bee Tagg
SCANLIFE
Quick Mark Reader
Semacode
2d Sense Platform
KAYWA Reader
Neo Reader
UpCode Reader
I - nigma Reader


Here is an example for iPhones:

Here are my 40 data matrix codes transforming Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech - give it try and let me know what you think!


The 2d data matrix codes can be photographed and scanned digitally from screen, for best results they can be printed!

And... finally the code that links back to the video footage of the speech in 1963.




Thank you for your interest in my work, I look forward to your comments.

Emma