A Lost Connectionthesis 2012 | Mela nie Menc a r ell i

A Lost Connection 1

A thesis project meant to instill questions in the mind of the spiritually bereft. To

help those who’ve lost their connection with the natural world as a sacred being,

those who live with the “empty self” created by our materialistic culture, and

those whose perspectives have been shortsigned by consumerism and greed

and continue to environmentally devastate and dwindle down our ancient

indigenous cultures. Through interviews and research, I’d like to create an

installation focusing on all of the senses to help people along their path to start

questioning and breaking open the head.

A Lost Connection 2

Goal I want to make people aware of the connection they’ve lost.

What is the lost connection? The connection with the spirit, with nature, one’s surroundings and the lost

language that allows us to communicate with it.

Why is it important? Blame overstimulation, the media, the notions of consumerism that have been

instilled in us since birth.

How am I going to do it? Highlighting who still has that connection and how they attain it.

Project Briefs

I’d like to create an exhibit that takes visitors out of their element for however long they stay, and puts

them in an environment the idea of the lost connection through a variety of mediums in juxtoposition

to daily life and the way society acts in general. I hope by putting them through this exhibit, they will

gain a perspective on what has been lost and encourage to find it on their own.

This will be done with the following project ideas.

Experiental Design

Video Interviews

Website

Printed Media

Experiential Design | Project Brief #1 4

As a large part of the exhibit, I’d like to create two one-person pods that secluded the

individual and created a certain feeling through the senses. One station would have them

listening to tracks that I would design (nature, shamanic chants, meditation track),

remove their sense of sight, and have the area smell like dirt, flowers, etc. The second

pod would arrest their senses, overstimulating them with videos of destruction, sounds of

traffic, people fighting, with smells of fried food and old garbage. The two pods represent

the mind of one who is in tune with the spiritual world and one who is vulnerable to

outside influences.

Video Editing | Sound Design | Experiential Design

Experiental Design

Experiential Design | Project Brief #1 5

Amon Tobin, an electronic musician and composer had this

installation created for his ISAM tour in 2012. The

combination of music, and visuals is something that I’m very

inspired by and would hope to incorporate into my project.

Amon Tobin ISAM Performance Installation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKKsjeRqHTQ&feature=fvsr

Experiential Design | Project Brief #1 6

Originally trained as a scientist, Holler’s work is inspired by works that alter the

audience’s physical and psychological sensations, inspiring doubt and

uncertainty about the world around them. Taken as a whole, Höller’s work is an

invitation to re-imagine the way in which we move through the world and the

relationships we build as he asks us to reconsider what we think we know about

ourselves.

Carsteen Holler’s motivation behind his work and method he uses to get the

user to see his point of view is very similar to the purpose in my project and my

way or reasoning. His work is of great inspiration.

NYC Museum Exhibit, ‘ Experience’ by Carsteen Holler

http://archive.newmuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Occurrence/Show/occurrence_i

d/1421

Experiential Design | Project Brief #1 7

As a part of the experience, I want to include tribal and ritualistic

music, along with sounds of nature. This hymn is a perfect ex-

ample of the role of ritual, and how set and setting play an impor-

tant role in the use of psychotropic substances to reach a higher

spiritual dimension and englightenment.

Hymn of Native American Church Peyote Prayer Songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NohJtT-m7_8

Video Interviews | Project Brief #2 8

As another facet of the exhibit, I’d like to record a series of interviews of people who have

reached or are trying to reach spiritual enlightenment through a variety of techniques,

mediation, yoga, psyhotropic substances, fasting, etc. This would be displayed in the

room and free for people to watch as they please. It would also be hosted on the website.

Video Editing | Sound Design

Video InterviewsHymn of Native American Church Peyote Prayer Songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NohJtT-m7_8

This documentary on DMT a psychotropic drug that is a

main ingredient in Ayahuasca, a substance shamans use in

South America to lead their tribesmen in spiritual journeys. I

would want a short video, around 10 minutes long,

documenting people’s stories.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule Documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQf9rn96CRQ

Video Interviews | Project Brief #2 9

DMT: The Spirit Molecule Documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQf9rn96CRQ

Website | Project Brief #3 8

I’d like to create a website that would be a place for the videos and pictures of the project

to live. A very simple website design that would be influenced by the online community of

Erowid and Silk Road.

Web Design | Interaction Design

Website

An encrypted online store where one can buy all the

drugs and paraphanelia one desires.

Silk Road

Website | Project Brief #3 9

Silk Road

Erowid is an online library containing tens of thousands of

pages of information about psychoactive drugs, plants, and

chemicals.

Great resource for articles, trip reports, drug reviews,

forums, etc.

Erowid

http://www.erowid.org

Website | Project Brief #3 10

Interactive site that incporates audio interviews with imagery

to create a fun experience for the user.

New York Times - One in A Million

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-milli

on/index.html

Website | Project Brief #3 11

Printed Media | Project Brief #4 12

Either as a take-away from the exhibit, or a visual representation of the experience that

I’m trying to convey, I’d like to create either a print influenced by different plants that are

used as psychedelics (peyote, shrooms, salvia) and use that print on the back of a

business like card that has the website information and a quote that resonates with the

theme of my thesis.

Print Design

Printed Media

Printed Media | Project Brief #4 13

La Oracion

“Shamanic Paintings”

Printed Media | Project Brief #4 14

Petate de las Danzas Sagradas

La Matriz Cosmica

These paintings are influenced by Shamanic

rituals in indigenous tribes. A conceptual way to

represent the spiritual path and mysticism that

revolves around these practices.

A Lost Connection 15

“Shamanic Paintings”

In conclusion, I’d like to create an exhibition that the sole purpose, is when people leave,

they leave with an understanding that there might be something missing from their lives,

and start to question, even if just for a moment, that there is something more. Through

different mediums and perspectives, I’d like to break open the heads of my audience.

In Summary

The Reconnectionthesis 2012 | Mela nie Menc a r ell i