Sharing in Anonymity
29-01-21 This project was a collaboration with Mariana Lok.
In these covid times, more than ever have we understood what loneliness is and what it can do to us.
Through our research we found out that loneliness does not come from being alone without people,
but from actually not being able to share the things important to us.
And what is the benefit of sharing our thoughts and feelings.
Confessing is actually the acknowledgement of who we are, what we believe or what we have done.
Putting our thoughts and feelings into words, changes how we think about it.
And perspective changes everything. To change the world you must start with oneself.
For changing oneself, one must first have acknowledgment about where he or she stands.
Sharing with strangers is sometimes easier than with loved ones.
And in sharing and connecting there is no place for loneliness.
To connect with each other, I must first connect with myself.
Sharing brings a new perspective to our experience.
This is why this sculpture invites you to participate.
Sharing in Anonimity is a concept for an interactive sculpture at Utrecht Centraal I helped design during a school-wide seminar at the HKU. We wanted to make a place for people to practice this confession and expressive writing anonymously. People are invited to write on the sculpture, and share thoughts they otherwise wouldn’t share with anyone. The sculpture takes the shape of an arch, about 2 meters high. On the outside it features a text asking passers-by what they are thankful for, and plenty of space to write on. If the passer-by chooses to enter, they are faced with a more vulnerable question; "what are your worries?"
The inside is a cave for travelers to hide their worries away, while the outside is a rock to proudly display what makes you happy.
The final design is the result of multiple iterations made from clay. We ended up choosing for this cave-like arch, as it's shape provides shelter to those under it, but doesn't block the view of the station. It was important for the inside to feel sheltered, as this was the metaphorical cave for travelers to hide their worries in.
The final model we used in our presentation was sculpted in MAYA, and rendered using the Unity game engine. I chose to display the model through Unity, as it allowed us to actually walk around it, and get a good sense of the scale.
