Participants

Zhouyang Lu

Thanks to York University MakerSpace for providing 3D printing and laser cutting support.

Thanks to professors Joel Ong and Michael Longford for their creative guidance.

Thanks to the staff at DesignTO and the Toronto International Design Centre for their support and adaptability through the various stages of the provincial lockdown.

Contact zhouyang.lu@qq.com https://www.designoflz.com/

The Breathing Art

This was originally a physical installation project planned to be exhibited at the Toronto International Design Centre, but the entire work had to be moved online because of the lockdown.

"The Breathing Art" artworks use paper bags showing the distance between people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the distance between the paper bags has been increased from 6 feet to the distance from the screen to the next screen. In this installation, brown paper bags and bellows are connected via breathing hoses. Sensors activated by visitor movement around the installation cause the bags to expand and contract, symbolic of breathing.

The bellows input frequency is regulated by a distance sensor that correlates close physical distance (within 6 feet) to shortness of breath, dyspnea, coughing, and other irregular breathing patterns.

The work expresses our concern and fear of contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic. It expresses the idea of keeping distance between people because of the epidemic. By representing our shared experience as a designed interaction, aspects of physical distancing are recast as a complex and emotional mode of intercommunication.