Cycle 3 – A Taste of Honey
Posted: December 18, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »For Cycle 3, I focused on improving the parts of my Cycle 2 that needed reframing. I started with buying a new bottle of honey so it wouldn’t take long for it to reach my mouth.
Product placement below is for documentation purposes. Not sponsored! :)) (Though I’m open for sponsorships.)
I edited the sound design, making the part of the song Honey by Kehlani that says “I like my girls just like I like my honey, sweet.” play 3 times so the lyrics wouldn’t be missed. In my cycle 2, the button that said “Dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians” were missed by the experiencers. To make sure it catches attention, I colored it with yellow highlighter. To clarify and better explain the roles of the people holding the honey bottle and the book, I recorded a video of myself, trying to sound AI-like without the natural intonations in my regular speaking voice. I gave clear directions for two volunteers, named person 1 and person 2, inviting them into the space and telling them to do certain things in certain actions in my pre-recorded video. I also put two clean spoons in front of them, telling them that they could taste the honey if they wish. Both people tasted the honey and one of them started talking about personal connections with honey as the other joined. This conversation invited me to improvise within my score where is was structured enough due to having expected outcomes but fluid enough to be flexible along the way to accomplish the score. The choreography I composed didn’t happen the way I envisioned to happen and the experiencers didn’t end up completing the circuit to make the MakeyMakey trigger my Isadora patch. So I improvised and triggered the patch myself. This made the honey video appear on top of the swirly live video affected by the OSC in my pocket. I moved in changing angles and off-balances like I did in Cycle 2, with the recording of my noise effects also playing in the background.
I finished with dropping on the floor, and reaching the 7 women expressing one by one that they are lesbians.
My vision manifested much more clearly this time with the refinements. Though it was funny and unfortunate that the circuit wasn’t completed because the highlighted section of the book attracted to my attention that the instructions I wrote above it ended up being missed, which is a reversal of what happened in Cycle 2. I received feedback that the experience shifted through different modes of being a participant and observer, and shifting emotions between anticipation, anxiety and delight. The responses were affirming and encouraging, making me want to attempt Cycle 4 even outside the scope of this class. Throughout all 3 of my cycles and my pressure projects, I gained new useful skills to use in my larger research ideas. Besides the information on and space for interacting with technology, I am also very grateful for Alex, Michael, Rufus and my wonderful classmates Chris and Dee for creating a generative, meaningful, insightful and safe space that allowed me to not hold back on my ideas!