Starting points: states, signals and a giant cloud
The internship begins with a list of possible installations, a survey of sensors, and an intuition about what it feels like to carry something heavy together.
The first weeks were deliberately wide. On the table were several possible works:
- a biofeedback system for collective meditation, built on Funiki;
- a “state of mind visualiser” based on dynamical systems — showing that anxious states are local minima we can be nudged out of, and that we are more than our current state;
- a “you are the hero” narrative, where a group gradually transforms an ambience through reflection and cooperation;
- a giant cloud about interbeing and impermanence;
- a mindful telephone box.
Light as a metaphor for attention
The dynamical-systems idea left us with a vocabulary we kept: brightness as attention (how much you choose to see of something), saturation as optimism, and uncomfortable flicker as anxiety — something to reduce, or learn to cope with.
Sensors and controllers
We surveyed what could read a room: heart-rate chest straps, EEG headbands, respiration belts, skin conductance wearables, phone accelerometers, microphones, pressure mats, cameras. We rated each for price, reliability in a live installation, and comfort. Breath kept winning. It is voluntary and involuntary at once, visible, and shared by everyone.
Two routes to belonging
Our notes from that week sketch two ways a group might come to feel like a we:
- Shared perception — we saw the same thing, we went through the same novel experience.
- Shared agency — we influenced something together.
The second came with an image we kept returning to: carrying a large weight with several others. At some point you’re no longer sure whether you’re doing the carrying. Does that make you lose interest, or does it bring trust that you still contribute?