CASSIDY (YITONG)
CHEN

Multimedia Artist & Designer




Design

Tangible Product Design,

Interactive Installation,

Museum Experience Design



Art Practice

Time-based Media,
Installation, Sculpture


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ITP Is a Washing Machine


Dec 2023
23 x 23 x 23 inches
Hardboard, 3d printing, motor, monitor, Arduino, P5.js



Statement︎︎︎


My project is a washing machine that functions as a camera. It captures real-time photos and digitally deconstructs them into pixels. I aim to use the metaphor of a washing machine to represent my experience engaging with the ITP community during the first semester. Just like when doing laundry, all clothes swiftly blend together once they're thrown into the washing machine. The machine disregards the differences between garments, blurring the characteristics carried by materials, brands, decorations, and so on. ITP resembles a vast washing machine in this sense. It ignores the labels we bring from our unique past experiences, stirring us together evenly. It focuses us breaking, mixing, and quickly forming strong bonds without affording us enough time to react.


Audiences interact with the washing machine by putting their head inside...













When the viewers place their heads inside the washing machine, as the head gets closer to the Time-of-flight sensor, it triggers the photo-capture function. The viewer will see a real-time photo of themselves falling onto the screen in the front. As various viewers put their heads in, the photos with physical properties will accumulate and collide with each other on the screen. The  “Washing” and “Empty” functions are triggered by closing and opening the door of the washing machine. There is also real-time sound accompanied by the “Washing” function, mimicking the sound when the washing machine is working.

























Process︎︎︎


Support equipment including a standing monitor, a DC motor mimicking the sound of a washing machine by continuously hitting a paperboard, and Arduino-related components were hidden in the interior of the symbolic washing machine structure made of square wood dowels and hardboards. The real-size front door of the washing machine was modeled in Rhino. I separated it into 8 pieces and 3D printed respectively, and assembled them after. By incorporating magnets into the door and body of the washing machine, I created a tactile interaction that simulated the sensation of opening and closing the door, while also triggering real-time interactions on the monitor.