Focus

Focus is an “abstract interactive experience exploring Alzheimer’s degeneration of memory,” that I created using the p5.js coding language for my experimental typography final in Word as Image in Space and Time.

Neurodegenerative Diseases

I think that in the grand scheme of diseases, neurodegeneration is widely regarded as one of the scariest. Patients are faced with the possibility of losing all the memories that made them who they are. These things manifest in degrees. Some patients experience the fear and discomfort that comes with forgetting while others merely live in the calmness of unknowing. I think that dichotomy was something I wanted this piece to explore. Experiences with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases are often quite personal experiences depending on the situation, but I hoped to capture some of the unanimous fear and uncertainty that comes with such a scary diagnosis.

This experience features:

• Short-term memory statements move at a medium pace and disappear after being clicked, representing the fading of immediate recollection.

• Long-term memory statements (relating to childhood) only move slightly and stay on the screen for longer to represent the persistence and clarity of long-term memory in Alzheimer's patients.

• Special statements containing the 5 active words (diagnosis, fear, forget, remember, granddaughter) move extremely fast and cause canvas-wide disruptions. These represent the most significant symptoms of Alzheimer's and the noticable characteristics.

• When the user interacts with the most relevant statement: forget, the canvas completely wipes, ensuring the looping factor of the experience while leaving behind evidence that you've lost something (the experience never returns to its original state, forget will always be written in the background).