Affective Balloons

Affective Balloons – 情感气球

Helena Hang Rong with Shard Island and CIVIS Design (Helena Rong 戎航, Jian Liu 刘剑, Jie Pan 潘杰, Haoze Bian 边昊泽)

More than an infrastructural space of circulation, Futian Station is a social confluence point of repose and destination—a vibrant urban public interface where a myriad of stories and passengers unfolds and forms the collective public conscious. Whether it’s joy from reunions, sadness during departures, or anger due to delays, emotions observed in the station are dynamically rich and in constant flux. Affective Balloons addresses the curatorial statement by employing AI technologies as “Eyes of the City”, to map and interact with the emotional landscape of the bustling train station.

Affective Balloons envisions a cluster of soft installation in the form of translucent PVC balloons augmented by LED lights. Responding to the emotions detected in space using AI, the installation is a malleable infrastructure that creates calming and stress-relieving environments with occasional moments of surprises in an otherwise bustling and overwhelming transport hub.

The project uses captured image data to run emotion detection algorithm to monitor and track the shifting emotional landscape within Futian Station. Based on categorization of emotions detected and averaged throughout key points in the station, a central cloud controls the balloons’ color and light intensity (LED lights), as well as the fullness and volume of the balloons for subtle ambient environmental modifications to reflect the collective emotional consciousness of the station. The balloons contract and dim down to accommodate feelings of sadness and doldrums, and expands and brightens to celebrate a jovial and cheerful crowd.

The installation creates a semi-private space which invites a more personal interaction with the visitor. Underneath the canopy, a webcam and screen allow the visitor to see the visualization of emotional landscape across the station. The visitor can make a facial expression at the webcam and change one of the balloon’s form and light, which allows them to recognize the impact of their individual feelings on the collective environment.

The rise of emotion AI detection furthers the viability of accurately assessing human emotions and behaviors. From an architectural design perspective, through the distributed spread of detection and data collection, Futian Station will be able to map out and understand the emotional and behavioral patterns of its visitors in space. Affective Balloons harnesses the power of real-time data by allowing a spatial intervention to respond to people’s emotional needs and provide ambient changes based on fluctuations of emotions in space, both at a collective and an individual level.

作为广深港高速铁路之间的换乘站，福田站不仅是一个重要的交通节点，也是个以休闲娱乐和社交为目的的交汇点：一个充满活力的城市公共界面，包含由无数乘客的故事形成的社群意识。无论是团聚的喜悦、离别的悲伤、或是因延误而产生的沮丧，站内可观察到的情绪是极其丰富且不断变化的。“情感气球”使用人工智能技术作为“城市之眼”来回应此次策展理念，以艺术装置的形式映射繁忙站内实时的情绪变化，与参展者进行互动。

这是一组由半透明聚氯乙烯气球构成的轻质装置，结合LED灯光的改变以反应车站内不同的情绪变化，使用人工智能技术反应在空间中获取的情绪信息，从而在如此繁忙的场地营造一个舒缓压力的环境。

该项目使用情感检测算法处理图像数据，对站内情感磁场的变化进行测量。对在车站中的不同地点检测到的信息进行平均分类分布，由云服务器控制气球的颜色、光强度和体积，以进行微妙的环境修改来反映车站内的变化莫测的集体情感意识。

气球装置创建了一个半私人空间，可以与访客进行一对一的互动。在装置下方，一台显示屏通过数据可视化让访客了解车站内的实时人群感情分布图。访客可面对显示屏上方的摄像头摆出不同情绪的表情，并通过此行为改变气球装置中单个气球的颜色，从而意识到他们的个人情绪对集体环境的影响。

情绪检测的兴起更进一步提升了准确评估人类情绪的可行性。此项目利用空间干预来响应人的情感需求，并根据空间内情绪的波动，在集体和个人层面上提供相应的环境变化。

Credits:

Helena Hang Rong 戎航, Jian Liu 刘剑, Jie Pan 潘杰, Haoze Bian 边昊泽.