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MagyarSmart home qi: Eindhoven graduate designs curious-looking gizmos that bring feng shui to the smart home
Feng shui, a series of ancient East Asian practices involving weird objects, compasses and positional rules, might have just begun to infiltrate your smart home.
Translated as 'wind-and-water', feng shui practices have attained global popularity in the fields of architecture and interior design. Home decorators use these seemingly arbitrary design tips to decide on placement of sofas, tables, beds, mirrors and all sorts of décor to match the personality of the occupants. Even architects and urban planners use feng-shui to determine the most suitable orientations of doors and windows.
For armchair enthusiasts of Oriental culture, feng-shui is steeped in myth and superstition. People spend thousands of dollars on traditional Chinese objects marketed as feng shui to enhance the flow of qi (energy) in their surroundings. And while these objects are sometimes fascinating pieces of craftsmanship (like this grotesque three-legged golden toad), they have no other functionality besides their questionable aesthetics.
But as connected devices become increasingly creepy – even toothbrushes and salt shakers – perhaps even feng-shui symbols can become smart, too?
That's the question that Yoojin Chung, a graduate of the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven(DAE), has apparently set out to answer in her Master's graduation project. Her work is, however, a satire on the hyperobjectification of post-modern feng shui in Western society.
Titled "Capturing Qi", Yoojin Chung's project is centered around three common objects used as symbols for feng shui: the crystal ball, the wind chime and the water fountain.
The crystal ball and water fountain are mounted on wheeled castors for easy transport around a home. The wind chime on the other hand, is suspended from the ceiling, much like traditional chimes that blow in the wind.
Chung redesigned them with Arduino circuit boards so they can be controlled (to some extent) via Bluetooth or an accompanying smart home app.
The motion of the wind chime, for example, is not only dependent on wind, but also on a user's interaction with the device through an app. Through this potentially frustrating mechanism, Chung seems to be trying to challenge the consumerist approach to feng shui; that instead of relying on "mysterious powers" for self-improvement, feng shui enthusiasts should be more concerned with creating harmony and balance.
Yet, Chung's elegant installation is open to (mis)interpretation. As the gadgets are designed to look like antique scientific equipment, it's not difficult to see how they could easily be incorporated into the feng-shui trend as smart gadgets for capturing the elusive qi.
With the press of a button, capture and diffuse all the qi to your heart's content!
– Yoojin Chung, MA (Design Academy Eindhoven)
Regardless of how ambiguous the devices may look, there is lore to be found here, if you look deep enough. Chung's versions of the crystal ball, wind chime and water fountain were designed to look like the apparatus built by 18th century scientists to search for evidence of a non-existent gas. Once you establish this intriguing connection, you can then make the transition from seeing the gadgets as merely curious fetish gizmos to the collectible objects of art they were designed to be.
You may not be able to buy Yoojin Chung's smart feng shui products (not cheaply, at least), but you can get these deep-toned wind chimes with an $8 coupon on Amazon.
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