Space, Image & Sound; Weak Signals Proposal- Tether by Tomás & Ben.
“Social media and emerging mobile technologies have forever changed the landscape of human interaction”. - The Human Connection in a Digital World
The constituent elements of our installation operate in regards to the weak signal of social interaction within a physical space.
In Sherry Turkle’s book ‘Alone Together’, she makes the point that “Contemporary mobile technology fosters the creation of a tethered self and fosters non-singularity…. We no longer truly inhabit public spaces by sharing with those around us because technology allows us to remain emotionally and socially tethered to our homes.”
The focus is not to re-establish the way people behave in a communal space, by untethering the insularity and countering the ‘negative’ impact on digital technologies on social relations within a public space, as that would remove the weak signal.
The basis of the participatory installation is to focus on a public space and question the unwritten rules, fears, and social behaviors which have formed there and simulate a virtual communal space where participants interact with others through their shadows from their individualistic zones.
Sherry also makes the point that “cafes, airport, and parks are no longer communal space but simply places of social collection; people gather in them but instead of speaking to each other they are attached to their mobile devices.”
By using the projected shadows of the participants we want to simulate a virtual communal space, where participants can engage with their own shadow or others shadows. The shadows serve as metaphorical representations of ones ‘tethered self’ and they are cast onto the wall within the public space. We decided to use shadows as they are weak signals themselves. Just like shadows, people surround us, but we don't always interact with them or pay attention to them.
The active engagement zones are represented as spots on the floor and are distanced from each other to seclude the participants and engage them within their own boundaries, this is done to focus on their physical seclusion and emphasize the weakness of social interaction through non-virtual means.
The spots are also set up in a way that predetermines the reach of the cast shadows so that they can merge and interact with others shadows on the wall but are still physically far away from each other. “The shadows will serve as extensions of the body to produce the sensation of embodiment“ for the participants”. - Kuylen, C., Balas, B., & Thomas, L. (2013).
The ambient sound of chatter within our installation will represent the ideal communal space. It will diminish as more people enter the active engagement zones (the spots) and this is done to portray our tethering by transitioning from the conventional ways of socially interacting with others to being reliant on technology as a middle-man to facilitate this process.
The weak signal also serves as an anticipation of technologies swift advancement, our transitioning reliance on technology for social connections/interactions and how the dimensions of public spaces are being re-defined by the development of technology.
Chan, D. (2014). The Human Connection in a Digital World. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-chan/the-human-connection-in-a-digital-world_b_4855478.html
Kuylen, C., Balas, B., & Thomas, L. (2013). My shadow, myself: Cast-body shadows are embodied. Retrieved from https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/lthomas/Kuylenetal_2013_.pdf
Turkle, S. (2017). Alone together. New York [etc.]: Basic Books.
In the grass patch outside WG level 4, there will be white sheets over the wall parallel to the entrance. This space for our installation was chosen as students frequently pass-by yet it is rarely occupied. Our installations focus was to transform this unused space into our virtual communal space.
A flood light placed approximately 17 meters away is casting light towards the sheets on the wall. The floodlight is a 500W halogen bulb, casting an expansive light over the active engagement area. The width of the installation is approximately 10 meters, this is the distance from the left most spot to the right most spot. In between the wall and the floodlight, there are three 1 meters diameter spots placed in a way that separates the participant’s physically but allows their ‘virtual selves’ or their shadows to merge. The spots mark the area of active engagement, this is where the participants will ‘perform’. The white sheet is seen as the ‘canvas’ that the participants will perform on, it is seen as a direct color contrast to the shadows for maximum visibility. Within the installation, the ambient sound of chatter will be playing at max volume in order to attract passerbyers, as participants enter the spots, the sound of chatter will begin to dissipate a set amount until all the spots are finally filled and there is silence. The depth of sonic content within the installation is dependent on the number of participants within the spots. The ambient chatter will be recorded by us and will simulate the feeling of an ideal communal area.
Participants within the active engagement zone are encouraged to do what they see fit on the spots; to play and interact with their shadows or others shadows, they are in a sense our ‘performers’ within our simulated virtual communal space and those outside of the active engagement zone can observe their ‘performance’.
Ambient chatter recorded by us. Here.
Technical Requirements & Specs
* Large white sheet(s) - Buy from the warehouse
* Floodlight or projector - N/A
* 3 or more large circle cuts - Cut from wood, materials from Bunnings.
* Large speaker - Book from AUTSA or use a Bluetooth speaker as a contingency
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