The One Academy X Sunway Mall SDG Public Exhibition

Bringing to attention real world situations from poverty and energy saving to gender equality, Sunway Malls and The One Academy bring you experiences that have been taken for granted through four different interactive set ups. These interactions, Beyond the Garden Wall, Sexist Arm Wrestling, Mao and Lights Out were engineered and crafted by 18 students from The One Academy School of Multimedia Design as a showcase of Sunway Malls' commitment to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Each interaction is an interpretation of these goals and a method of highlighting the need for the public to step-up and take action to ensure the goal is reached. The use of digital media to bring attention to these issues is because it is more effective and eye-catching compared to traditional methods such as posters. In addition, this project gave the students an amazing opportunity to showcase not only their creativity and skills but also their take on the issues on hand and how it can be fixed.

Beyond the Garden Wall, the brainchild of Carla Lorena Labunda, Felecia Sia Wooi Zee, Natalie Chan Wei Ann, and Tan Yong Jie, offers a glimpse into the lives of the impoverished through the personification of poverty’s cause and effects via physical items, to educate everyone about the different features of poverty in an approachable, memorable way. Attendees would be able to step into a make-shift room belonging to a victim of poverty and interact with miscellaneous items found around. Picking up an item would prompt a recording of the poverty-stricken family speaking and the attendee is momentarily transported into the scene itself. This installation aims to give the public a chance to feel what it is truly like to be living in poverty.

S.A.W aka (Sexist Arm Wrestling) is a game meant to raise awareness on gender inequality. The creators Howe Xin Yu, Ng Wen Jun, Chew Woan Shan, and Phon Wei Sing wanted to allow the public to experience a literal, exaggerated representation of the frustrating social discrimination experienced by women. The game requires two players, preferably each of the opposite sex, who control the two robotic figures in an arm-wrestling game. The players get to control their robots via buttons and controls. The game is pre-programmed to ensure the female robot wins the game each time, however the words “Male Wins” will be flashed on the screen above. This captures the daily frustrations that gender inequality brings.

Mao is an interactive flip book that tells a short story through animation and aspires to convey how minor changes to our daily lifestyle can impact the environment. This project, produced by Justin Lee Chin Yeow, Loh Weimen Rendy, Low Kok Wei, Ong Jue Heng, and Steffie Eddy, hopes to inspire the audience to take the first step to achieve overall sustainability. Attendees would be able to watch the short story and fully comprehend the effects our lifestyle has on the environment, and ultimately be motivated to adapt small changes to make a big difference.

Lights Out is an interactive installation crafted by Kraven Chew Li Shen, Meryl Lee Yen Yen, Ngoh Jin Heng, Yong Quan Yue, and Young Kai Qi and seeks to increase awareness about light pollution. It also encourages people to save energy through the simple act of switching off unused lights during night time, allowing them to appreciate the pure beauty of the starry sky. The attendees step into a dome and use the interactive buttons which progressively dim the lights until the dome is lit with beautiful stars emulating the night sky. It aims to convince the public to switch off unused lights at night, making way for the magnificent stars in the sky.

The head of the Multimedia Design Department of The One Academy, Cheang Lin Yew believes that “this project helped to create a unique user experience to the public via a cohesive integration of creativity, art, design and technology which is the core focus of the programme TOA is offering whilst also providing the students an opportunity to work on a live task and apply what they have learnt in a real project.”

Attendees were treated to a unique opportunity to not only view the exhibition, interact and understand the messages behind it but also meet the minds behind the creations as the students were present at the event. One of the attendees, Shiva, noted that “it is so great to see young minds taking an effort to address the issues of sustainability in such an interesting manner”. Many of those who visited the showcase left with more ideas on how to play their part in ensuring the world is a better place.

The One Academy is committed to providing the best art education programmes and continues to nurture its students passionately through its ‘Masters Train Masters’ coaching philosophy, which has been practised for the past 27 years, by providing diploma and degree courses namely Advertising & Graphic Design, Digital Animation, Digital Media Design, Film Visual Effects, Interior Architecture & Design, Illustration, Fine Arts and Paris Fashion Design & Pattern Making. For more information on The One Academy, visit www.toa.edu.my or call +603-5637 5510 or e-mail your enquiries to [email protected].