Spotlighting The Monolith; An immersive installation depicting anxiety, created by Jack Dartford

Today over 8 million people in the UK struggle with anxiety at any one moment in time. It is no big surprise that it had been chosen as the central theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness week (15th-21st May). The Adot Foundation is thrilled to be presenting The Monolith at Outernet as a part of its efforts to shine a light on mental health.

The Monolith is a crowd-reactive multimedia AV installation, emulating an over-simulation of sensory input, common to those suffering from anxiety. A real time large scale particle system which will encapsulate the audience with not just visuals but also spatial audio for full immersion. Jack, its creator, explains that the Monolith represents the brain, and the particles represent neurons. As more people enter the space, The Monolith becomes more distorted and struggles to keep form as it starts to ‘feel’ anxious. Jack expressed that he himself had always struggled with severe anxiety, especially throughout his childhood. As someone on the autistic spectrum who struggles to verbalize emotions he turned to the interactive media as a means to better express himself. Jack’s goal is to create empathy amongst the public with those that do not have a large issue with anxiety on a daily basis and to show those that do that they are far from alone. He hopes this will create more conversation about anxiety and thus creating more of an understanding and a bridge between those who struggle with anxiety and those who do not.

The idea behind the Monolith, as well as Jack’s story, was fascinating. It aligned with the foundation’s ambition to get behind a campaign that was really going to generate awareness for a topic close to heart. Adot’s partnership with Outernet means it can support projects like The Monolith through the physical and virtual elements of the media district.

The content is also supported by Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) for the duration of the campaign, whose representatives will be present everyday to offer practical support and advice on everything from anxiety to depression. It should also be noted that their helpline is open 356 days a year.

Adot hopes this Campaign will foster empathy and understanding for those struggling with anxiety and to create a space for reflection, connection, and empathy.

Created by Jack Dartford

Presented by Adot

Supported by CALM

Creative

Jack Dartford - Visual Artist

Stacia Pfeiffer - Producer

Halina Rice - Sound Design

Outernet Technical Team

Jad Zouein - Director of Creative & Media Technologies

Nariman Tootoonchi – Creative Technology Manager

Eduard Martinenko – Media Solutions Engineer

Adot Team

Ivona Kirschel - Co-founder & Project Director

Nikki Worth - Project Manager

Billie-Rose Dell - Project Assistant

Special Thanks

Laurence Kirschel - Founder of Adot

Luke Grech - Creative & Brand Director at Adot

Philip O’Ferrall - CEO of Outernet

Jessica Dracup-Holland - Director of Marketing at Outernet

Simon Gunning - CEO of CALM

Andrew Brown - Partnership Director at CALM

Nick Caley - Head of Comms at Outside Org

Joe Brett - Senior Publicist at Outside Org