QV: “VIC” – in collaboration with OCTA
2017 / Melbourne CBD, VIC

A personality lives in this QV corridor. This personality, VIC, talks to shoppers about what they’re doing, what they’re wearing, how they’re feeling, and shows everyone captivating patterns that respond to their movements.

VIC is the motley Frankenstein/HAL9000/Pokemon assemblage we created as an alternative to inactive decorative features.

VIC reappropriates elements common to shopping centres (LED screens, speakers etc) that are robust and cost effective, but uses them in new ways to create unique, aesthetic and entertaining architectural conditions. Not only that, VIC can be infinitely reprogrammed to respond to changes in season, trends, events and more.

Popular movies look at “strong” artificial intelligence dominating, transcending or changing the world as we know it, but VIC is a more personal-level intelligence. In collaboration with OCTA, through VIC we have been exploring further ideas on function, lifespan, ergonomics and community in relation to contemporary environments and technologies.

The physical components of VIC are left raw – the channel struts, galvanised rods, bolts, fixings and casings, with the carpet of digital pads arrayed across the physical components.

Commercial projects don’t have to be unimaginative and replaceable – VIC proves that a small-scale work can engage closely with broad communities and clients over a long period of time. Powered by a set of solar panels on QV’s roof, VIC extends the churn of new commercial fitouts by being a piece of infrastructure that can change and adapt to extend its lifespan.