Day 6

The final pose of the bear has been chosen, we have made a small clay model which combined our previous bears out of clay.
The belly of the bear should be big enough and form a vertical plane on which will be projected.

To manifacture our prototype we had to find an affordable fabric which we could inflate. We found a good fabric that suited those needs,
because PVC is too expensive and heavy for a prototype. We tested this fabric by inflating a tube with a hairdryer, and it worked.

Today we also had to make a "plan of attack", which shows the teachers how we are going to spend the second week.



Finally we started making a bigger bear of 50cm long in foam.
It's just a rough model of the bear that we are going to cover with automotive clay to make it smooth and to sculpt it further.
Then we are going to tape the bear and after that we cut the tape loose in patterns.
After that we magnify the patterns to the chosen scale and then we cut it out in fabric.
The final step will be sewing all the parts together to become our inflatable.

Day 5

We didnt get much time to work on the project,
because today each group member had to follow one workshop and one lecture separately.

We did manage to work out some models in clay to help us render and get a 3d view of the bear.

Day 4

This afternoon we gave a presentation about the proof of concept to six teachers who came by individually.
They gave points by inserting coins into our "pimped out" piggy bank.

So we were fixed on visualizing our project by decorating our projectpannels and piggy bank to give a clear and coherent vision of our project.
We photoshoped the bear onto different backgrounds, to visualize we want to send the polar bear around the world.



We also had an idea about making the polar bear look funny by adding sprinkles to its back,
the type you put on an icecream.

Day 3

We have decided to go with a polar bear and today we have been looking for different positions in which it could be standing.
It has to look like he's asleep so the bear could be lying on the ground
or leaning to against a wall, ...

The look of the polar bear still has to be fun and it can't scare away the little ones,
so we'll have to stylize it.

We have really explored the concept more thoroughly,
to give the impression the bear is breathing we would deflating it for several seconds and inflate it again, continuously.
There will be a snoring sound too, to make the whole bear really look alive.

When projecting the drawings of children into the bear, we that the whole bear will light up giving ambient coloring around the projection square.
It will be a true work of art on many levels, and we tried to give this inflatable a soul and purpose in this world.

Today the woman who gave us the assignment to design and conceptualise an inflatable piece of art, came to visit us,
we shared our vision for the project and she was really taken by it.

Day 2

The day started with a whole new concept, one of the team members came up with an idea in the evening of the first day.
It would be a huge sleeping bear, who travels the world:
- breathing: it has to look alive (inflate, deflate, inflate, deflate,...)
- dreaming: drawings of children of local schools are projected on the forehead/belly
The bear would be asleep: he's tired from all the travelling.
This bear could be a brown bear or a polar bear,
but when you make a huge inflatable polar bear it looks like you only have more advantages:
- underlying ecological idea
- white for projection
- more visually striking than a brown bear (specially in warmer climates)

In the afternoon we visited Extreme Creations who manufactures inflatables of all kinds.
They have created the know-how in their 16-years of existence to deal with all of our technical challenges and would definitely be able to deliver a durable quality product.
The best partner for an ambitious idea!

Day 1

Our project is to create an inflatable piece of art that puts a smile on the people of Kortrijk.
The team that's working on this project consists of 3 persons: Geert (2IPO), Mert (3IO), Valentijn (2IPO)

We had the idea to make a really big inflatable which you would be able to see from really far,
so we started the day off with looking for places in Kortrijk where we could put an inflatable.


After some constructive feedback from our teachers we realised that if you want to put a smile on peoples faces you have to surprise them.
So we have to put the inflatable just somewhere in the streets, on a spot where nobody would expect something,
it has to be funny, absurd, engaging.

You can have different kind of inflatables: static or interactive.
We started thinking of an interactive inflatable because people can really engage with it and have an experience
and a static inflatables might not be ambitious enough.
This inflatable could be blocking a road (make you think about moving around in a city) , or making it really narrow (forcing you to communicate with people from the opposite direction), or you have to go underneath it,...etc
It was quite the brainblizzard!

We ended the day with at least one thing decided : It had to be interactive.