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In their influential book Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson suggest that metaphor is something many of us
associate solely with language and the written word. They challenge this limited outlook: “We have found, on the
contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary
conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (1980, p. 3). They
argue that we are often unaware of our conceptual system despite its central role in making sense of the world around
us. Lakoff and Johnson use the term metaphor, then, largely to encompass the view that we make sense of new things
by the use of association or similarity. Lakoff, G., & Johnson. M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press.
“This is like being in space”
“This feels like outer space”
“This is like being in a swimming pool at night”.
“... its more like swimming in murky water at the seaside.”
The Lightbox explores how an audience could engage with science, the exploration of Antarctica, and optics by using an analogical design strategy.
As David Wong (Wong 1993, p 1259) notes, “Through analogies, an understanding of novel situations may be constructed by comparison to more familiar domains of knowledge”. Hernan and Goldschmidt refer to Vosniadou and Ortony when describing analogy as entailing “the transfer of relational information from a known situation (usually referred to as source or base), to a situation that needs explanation (referred to as target), where at least one of the related elements is not known. (Hernan, C and Goldschmidt, 1999) The Analogy happens because of the possible relationship between the target and the source.
This case study will seek to discuss ways we can reflect on the use of analogy and how this may inform design research
1/ The Lightbox project will seek to discuss ways we can reflect on the use of analogy and how this may inform design research
2/ When we understand a structure as an object, is it different from understanding it as a phenomenon
REFERENCES
Bestor, C. (2003) 'Installation art: image and reality ', SIGGRAPH Comput. Graph. , vol. 37 no. 1 pp. 16-8.
Geczy, A and Genocchio B (eds) 2001, What is Installation? : an anthology of writing on australian installation art, Power Publication, Sydney.
Glynn, R. (1996) Attributing space, Inventing Attributes, installations. London. Bartlett School of Architecture
Hasekawa, Y. (2006) Ryoji Ikeda, Jones, C. (Ed). Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology and Contemporary Art. Cambridge MA, The MIT press. pp 68-72.
Hernan, C and Goldschmidt, G. ( 1999) Expertise and the use of visual analogy: implications for design
Education. Design Studies, Vol 20, No 2, March, p 154
Kozel,Susan.(2007)Closer:performance,technologies,phenomenology. Cambridge MA. The MIT Press, p164
Stone S, (2002) How Do Experts Design Compelling Experiences : A Qualitative Identification Of Key Dimensions [Online PDF]. Available from
[Accessed 25 May 2009]
Saltz, D. (1997) “The Art of Interaction: Interactivity,Performativity, and Computers.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 55, no.2 (spring), pp117-128.
Lightbox is an installation that takes imagery and sound from the Antarctic and presents it to a Northen Hemisphere audience using a room converted into a low-tech visual communication device (the Camera Obscura). Video and data of the Aurora Australis (in the Southern Hemisphere), along with photographs from Scott Base in Antarctica, are treated digitally and then projected onto the walls of the gallery in which the Lightbox sits.
Lightbox made its debut at the Lightwave Festival in Dublin, Ireland between January and February 2009. This event invited some of the world’s most inspirational scientists, designers and artists to experiment with illumination and light.
Lightbox was initially created by researchers Antony Nevin and Karen Curley from Massey University's Institute of Communication Design in New Zealand. They wanted to explore how a Northern Hemisphere audience might experience the Aurora Australis by experimenting with patterns and multiple images, as seen through a Camera Obscura. This created a space for contemplation and encouraged the Festival audience to engage with science, the Aurora phenomenon and optics.
The Aurora occurs when charged particles riding on solar winds hit the earth’s magnetic field. The energy released can be seen at both Poles in the form of the Aurora Borealis in the North and the Aurora Australis in the South.
By standing inside the Lightbox people are surrounded by imagery that is inverted, refracted and combined through the use of multiple apertures. A star field of holes projects the Aurora in the pattern of constellations from the mid January Southern sky. Upon closer inspection each glowing pinpoint of light is, in fact, a tiny camera obscura showing the Antarctic scenes. As The Aurora Australis glows, clouds form and dissipate, the sun rises and sets and the moon races behind Mt Erebus. Lightbox fluxes and moves with a thousand tiny upside-down images of the Antarctic environment.
Lightbox was created in partnership with the New Zealand Government’s Antarctic program (AntarcticaNZ), The American NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and images filmed by Anthony Powell (a photographer and satellite communications technician at McMurdo Station). Sound artist Servando Barreiro was commissioned to design a sound scape based on recordings from hydrophones located on the Ekström ice shelf.
Lightbox is an evolving project. Antony has been using Lightbox to investigate analogy as a design strategy and how science and design can inform each other. Currently Antony is developing links with the possible World Heritage Star-Light Reserve at Mt St John in New Zealand.
Ghost in the machine
can you see the legs poking out the bottom of the Lightbox? 
Anna looking at all the pretty lights and deciding that the 3rd wine wasn't such a good idea.
