"The Eye of Gaia" is a visual representation of data in the form of a tridimensional "pseudo-eye" made from a particle system, that reacts interactively when observed. This project intends to explore the communicative capability of the data-art medium (over traditional information visualization), while it tries to exploit the interactive possibilities and the moving power of effects like the "uncanny valley" and "direct-gaze", in order to express the inevitability and urgency of the topic of climate change and mass extinction at the same time as it tries motivate the viewer to act on it.

"The Eye of Gaia" emerges from the need to communicate the effects of human related activity in the natural environment in a more expressive way. For this we aim to create an interactive exhibition data-art piece that explores the topic of mass extinction and loss of biodiversity in a way that shocks the viewer into action. This shocking power is emphasized through the the strangeness of the object, as well as through the exploration of concepts like "direct-gaze" and "uncanny-valley" both proven to have a disconforting effect on human beings. With the creation of this piece we aim to represent, directly and indirectly, all speacies that inhabit planet Earth in order to give them back their voice as they try to communicate a message of despair with the future of our world. Therefore, this project aims to create an intimate relation between viewer and art piece, through the creation of a narrative/time-based interaction between an eye-shaped particle system (where each particle represents an individual specie) and a human viewer, as they look at eachother back and forth, leading to a bidirectional message exchange, hopefully contributing to a better future for both parts. Further information regarding technical aspects of the project are detailed below. Information regarding the conceptual decisions made throughout the development of the project, as well as information related to a more detailed explanation of its behaviour can be found on the article available here.

This project was developed using HTML and JavaScript in order to enable both the creation of a Web-based and digital exhibition experience, both based on the same piece of code. The deployed version of the project can be found here, so everyone can run and experience the project in their own devices. On the other hand the digital exhibition version will be hopefully available as part of the FeedNPlay project, located in the Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra.

The project should be ready to run once the repository is cloned. If any problem is found try installing the following dependencies:

• Node.js
• Three.js

$ npm install --save three

• ViteJs

$ npm install --save-dev vite

To install and test the project simply run the following command, from the src folder in the terminal:

$ npx vite

Or visit the link available in the Technical Implementation section.

We expect everyone participating in our project to follow a Code of Conduct. Please read it here.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

This project was developed for the Computational Design Laboratory course unit of the MSc of Design and Multimedia of the University of Coimbra, by João P. Gomes (design and development) with supervision from Tiago Martins, Sérgio M. Rebelo, João Cunha, Pedro Silva and Penousal Machado.