Andrei:<\/strong> I came to Curtin in 2008 to study architecture. The course was five years: a bachelor degree and two years of masters. I came back and started doing research, and then got into academic discussions and this idea of doing a PhD. I like it. I like the idea of being free to experiment and explore different avenues.<\/p>\n Rob:<\/strong> I have a background in fine arts. When I went to university at UWA, I wasn\u2019t sure whether to go into fine arts or architecture, and I got pushed into architecture. About a year or two into it I realised it was really good, so I decided to keep going with it. I studied my bachelors and masters at UWA, and then after a year off, I started my own business in animation, architecture design and graphic design, \/\/thedeadpixelproject<\/a>.<\/p>\n I then decided I want to continue researching, so I gave Curtin a go. I have been running the business this year, but I want to put it on hold next year because I want to get into a PhD. Now that I\u2019ve started my PhD, I\u2019ve started to get the opportunity to get back into fine arts, so the work that we\u2019re doing involves a lot of work with interactive public art.<\/p>\n What can you tell me about the cringeMachine?<\/strong><\/p>\n Rob:<\/strong> The cringeMachine is a prototype for something we\u2019ve been working on for a while, which is experimenting with fabrications and working with cheap found materials. And then my research is to do with interactive architecture, so this work at the moment is fairly rudimentary \u2013 it\u2019s more reactive than interactive \u2013 but as a prototype it works pretty well. The idea from here is to keep building on that.<\/p>\n Andrei:<\/strong> It\u2019s not so much about the type of interaction. It\u2019s more about the logic of interaction. It\u2019s not really about the lights themselves. It could be sound, it could be lights, it could be temperature changes, it could be anything like that. The point is how do seemingly immaterial objects relate to your real-world experiences as a subject?<\/p>\n Architecture is kind of like the soundtrack to a movie. When you watch a movie, you\u2019re not really paying attention to the soundtrack \u2013 you\u2019re paying attention to the story, you\u2019re paying attention to the characters, what\u2019s going on, the interactions \u2013 but the music is driving and steering it in the background. It\u2019s the same with architecture. It\u2019s not really something you pay that much attention to, but it\u2019s basically steering everybody\u2019s interactions, even though they\u2019re not noticing it. Our research is about exploring new ways of modifying or experimenting with it, using the materials that Rob mentioned, but also new technologies and some aspects of computation, because computation has started seeping into all fields recently, including architecture. We\u2019re exploring and experimenting really.<\/p>\n How will the cringeMachine help you develop future projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n Rob:<\/strong> This project is just an opportunity to experiment with ideas. The things we learn we\u2019ll build and apply in future projects.<\/p>\n Andrei: <\/strong>It makes the built environment more interesting. When you go through architecture, you\u2019re being forced to pay more attention to things that you usually wouldn\u2019t pay attention to. Subtle effects on a conscious state are of extreme importance and have a strong influence on what you do. Architecture is not necessarily about buildings per se, it\u2019s the way you think about buildings, which has the potential to link to other fields, so we\u2019re having very interdisciplinary discussions with other people, who don\u2019t necessarily know a lot about buildings, but whose conceptual ideas we can relate to and interact with.<\/p>\n We found that people don\u2019t interact enough and they don\u2019t interact enough with people outside of their field of friends and colleagues. Sometimes it\u2019s good to meet other people that you wouldn\u2019t necessarily interact with \u2013 that\u2019s how good ideas are born. When you get exposed to things you wouldn\u2019t get exposed to, it breeds a different way of thinking and a different attitude. It changes your state of mind.<\/p>\n Do you have any dream projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n Rob:<\/strong> I take projects as they come. Every project is another opportunity and every project is different depending on the concept and the context. More scope is always a good thing.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re dealing with projects, they might be appropriate for one situation, say for instance, putting the cringeMachine inside a tepee is completely different to building something in the middle of a busy public space, which is different to building something in the entryway to the floor of a building. So things like form and structure can be generic, but they shouldn\u2019t be, and interaction on the other hand is something that has to react to context.<\/p>\n Andrei:<\/strong> If I knew what my dream project was, I wouldn\u2019t do it, because I would already know what it is. It\u2019s more fun to do things that you\u2019re not quite sure are going to work. If there\u2019s a risk of failure, it makes it really exciting. If you know how something works, then you don\u2019t need to do it, because you already know it \u2013 but if you don\u2019t know, then there are opportunities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more information on their projects, contact Rob Cameron<\/a> or Andrei Smolik<\/a>, or view Rob\u2019s website, \/\/thedeadpixelproject<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rob Cameron and Andrei Smolik’s \u2018cringeMachine\u2019 has been featured in the Curtin Creative Festival as part of their experiments into interactive architecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":5404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-5403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Andrei-Smolik-and-Rob-Cameron-version-2.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 01:10:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=5403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/The-cringeMachine-within-a-tepee.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Andrei](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Andrei-building-Cringe-Machine-version-2.jpg\")
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