Intervention Design
unanticipated collaboration
It is after the participants have had a chance to fully explore the installation, that its effectiveness can be measured. The aim of the intervention is to encourage social interactions between people. Seeing how it’s not likely for the users to be able to figure out the scheme in which the exhibit operates on their own, they will be forced to reach out to others, if they are willing to find out what is happening around them.
Figure 12 Breakdown of the elements included in the walls of the design.
By collaborating with people on the outside, the participants gain a new understanding of the mechanics in which the installation operates. Through communication they can start to notice that their movements around the room are tracked and projected to the outside by the use of alternating light intensity. Their tactile interactions – touching or moving the ball, or the walls of the exhibit, cause its external colours to change. And finally, the sounds they make on the inside and the words they say are distorted and replayed as noise through the speakers in the gallery room. The idea behind the intervention, is that the personal need for the validation of interactions, will force the participants to reach out to strangers behind the wall, soon finding themselves engaging in unanticipated collaboration with others. 29