Responses by makemepulse.
Background: This installation was specifically created for the World Conservation Congress to highlight the importance of biodiversity conservation and give attendees views of what a dystopian and a responsible future might look like in 2050. Thus, our idea was an LED-screen corridor for visitors to walk through. Motion cameras throughout the experience detect people’s shadows, which in turn are used to reveal the two possible futures.
Design thinking: We wanted to use visuals that were both accurate and poetic, a graphic choice that would elicit surprise and empathy from attendees. It was important to create something that would underline the interdependencies of various ecosystems and show real species in their natural environment. We did this by employing a depth of field with the illustrations as well as creating animation loops that made for a more immersive and engaging experience.
Challenges: The fact that this was a physical installation. The scale of it was pretty impressive as the corridor was made of 190 LED tiles—add to that the length of the walls and the need for multiple motion-tracking sensors.
Favorite details: The design choice for the silhouettes. We wanted these to reflect the difference in futures: for the responsible future silhouette, we went for a softer, more organic look, and for the dystopian one, we went for something much harsher and grainier. That, and the sheer scope of the biodiversity we managed to include—everything from microscopic bacteria to more complex animals and plants.
Time constraints: On a very fundamental—and like so many things in the world—we were affected by the COVID pandemic and the need to keep pushing the project back as the conference kept getting delayed. We took the brief in February 2020 with an initial launch date of June. That then got pushed back to early 2021, and the conference finally went ahead in September 2021.
Specific project demands: By the nature of this being a physical installation, this project involved us working with various offline partners, such as LED-screen experts, tracking-solution creative developers and set-up crews. With everyone bringing their own expertise to the table, it made for an exciting, challenging collaboration.