Interface Objects is a family of speculative design devices mimicking user interface (UI) widgets in modern desktop operating systems, which in turn borrowed from many real-life controls to help people adjust to digital computing. They are provocations to make us wonder about the expectations of familiar interfaces: if a slider exists in my garden, what would it do?
physical = control?
The objects augment a space, and in turn project a conversation about the way we interact with the environment. Their simple user affordances offer a mysterious yet familiar interface to the locality, and its site and placement of the object hints towards the context of each object’s function and purpose. Much like how we interact with digital data today, we are invited to feed this network of inputs whenever we like, but we are never quite certain how else the data is used by the ones who record it.
Each input ‘moment’ is captured and time-logged. This data is sonified as a series of subtle echoes and notes that ring through the living space through hidden speakers. Like a windchime, the installation constantly repeats the murmur and presence of life in the space.
Frameworks behind the scenes
Technology-wise, Interface Objects is built over a custom-written IoT software framework supporting various microcontroller platforms. It uses the open-source nodeRED platform as core data broker.