Look, don’t touch! Interactive Installation for
Mangrove Conservation
dshjfcjThe installation was created as a concept to raise awareness about the conservation of India’s mangrove forests ...of Kochi, Mumbai, and the Sundarbans.
Ideated, put up, and exhibited in 2023 by Evana, Hayat, Saikat, and Yashwant (Image 2), then first-year interaction desing masters students at IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay. It was thought and developed within a span of 4 weeks, as guided by Prof. Ajanta Sen and Prof. Ravi Poovaiah.
If I were to summarise the idea concisely -
it illustrates the dying out of mangrove forests, as caused by the industrial man’s intervention.
The green glowing tubes, are to symbolically represent the exposed roots of mangrove trees, a distinctive feature not commonly seen in other tree species. The turning off of sections of tube, stand as a simplified depiction of mangrove’s interaction with industrial humans. And, the scale and elevation is for artistic emphasis.
Mangroves in Our Absence
Slideshow: Process Documentation Photos
Reflective Thoughts
It was a nightmare to put up.
Each arm 5m long, 3 such arms, 800m of wires in 2.5’’ wide tubes, hanging from the ceiling on fishline.
Following the scheduled exhibit, even though we were offereed multible opportuniites to exhibit it again, the first time was so traumatic we never attempted it again.
It was well-received, visitors enthusiastically interacted with it, clicked pictures with it, and in the following weeks featured it on their Instagram profiles.
However, the ‘interaction’ in it could be posing a potential problem.Upon touching the glowing root, the light of that section of the root would turn off, indicating the death of that seciton. Ironically, this became the very action people were most drawn to, which was in direct contradiction to the installation’s core message of cautioning industrial human intervention in mangrove areas.
In essence, it had a cobra effect, as it incentivised the very behaviour that it set out to prevent.
Thanks (: From left to right: Saikat, Yashwant, Evana, Hayat.