“We’re surrounded by a tumult of often chaotic information. In order to help us feel in control, brains radically simplify the world with narrative.” ─Will Storr, The Science of Storytelling.

We have many opportunities to experience narratives in our everyday life. Our very human ability to connect cause and effect allows us to consider the stories behind events and experiences. As storytelling elements, animating daily objects can create compelling moments into daily scenarios. The Hanged Man brings to life clothing displayed in apparel shop windows — an interstitial space considered as a layer a retail brand’s story and the daily life of a shopper.

As a robotic interface to animate retail clothing through interaction with people, The Hanged Man aims to attract people by moving and mimicking the observers. Employing the form of a clothes hanger into a computational interface to animate clothing, each brand can use the interface to animate and tell its own story.

The last prototype and a public test at Camden Market (December, 2019)

 

Animated daily objects can contain elements of storytelling like Disney’s animation depicts. At the same time, we also have kinds of stories in everyday life, such as in restaurants, retail stores and shop windows.

This project proposes an applicability of the animated object as an intermedium to bring the storytelling into such daily situations. In order for it, this project employs the form of a skeleton for clothes as the interface design. Its kinetic and visual design can be customised by the users themselves.

The first prototype (May, 2019)

Although the first prototype does not interact with the observers directly, it already has a potential to tell stories.

Through several iterations on the interaction and structural design, this project is now developing a multi-interface system to produce more immersive experience.

Making of the last prototype and public test (December, 2019)