Studio Catinca Tilea

#1MINUTELAMP [1 minute lamp | one minute lamp]

Interactive installation in perpetual change

#1minuteLamp is an interactive installation that uses light and technology in an entertaining way to show how creativity and participation can influence social behaviour. It is an instrument that informally connects people and helps them relate to one another.

The installation allows everybody to experience the story of everyday objects. On its weight-sensitive surface, a lamp can be created within a very short time by simply adding materials to the surface. The installation reduces lighting to a gesture of addition and balance, transforming lamps into spontaneous assemblages.

Set into the context of rapid online data flows, the project explores the evolution of ownership and aesthetics, and the pleasure of making. As a participatory social design, #1minuteLamp analyses consumption patterns such as the customer’s reflected image of home lighting, goods' lifespan in relation to diversity, and open source knowledge. In an 'Internet of Things meets DIY culture' setup, #1minuteLamp speculates online-originated crafting behaviour, and the willingness and excitement behind it.

Creating a lamp within a very short time invites to understand how materials work, and how light propagates through different densities, volumes, textures, or colours etc. Everything is put out for experimenting into a game-like arrangement; everything may become a lamp and every lamp may be anything between awesome and awful. #1minuteLamp lets the 'ingredients' of lighting be seen and experimented with, between commodity and state-of-the-art object. Making a lamp assemblage is given as an almost absurdly short process. The obtainable result however invites to long-term observation and reflection upon spontaneous objects.

#1minuteLamp stimulates informal crowd engagement into the design process while at the same questioning the current transformations of this practice. It empowers the creativity of every individual and boosts team work, especially because making a beautiful object is so effortless. You don't have to think too much; you just assemble, remove, or even add to somebody else's composition; if you don't like what comes out, you can easily redo it in a different way.

In this setup, ideas emerge informally. They get improved in no time and get transferred organically between participants. Everybody is encouraged to play the creator's role. #1minuteLamp helps participants to reflect upon design, production, and consumption in a constructive way. Making a spontaneous lamp lets people discover on their own how each of us can make a positive change in the world.