There are two events each year that i wouldn’t want to miss: one is (unsurprisingly) ars electronica, the other is the Royal College of Art show. I spent three hours there yesterday and saw only a ridiculously tiny part of the exhibition. It runs until July 2 so there’s plenty of time to have another look (note: if you fancy a visit there, the show closes tomorrow, Friday.)
First example of what’s in store:
Weird Objects for Weird Users? addresses the issue of autophobia, an abnormal and persistent fear of being alone.
Many people suffer from Autophobia. They feel extreme pain when alone, emotionally as well as physically. But they will have to be alone in everyday life. Sohui Won has created several design proposals to help these people enjoy the worst moment for Autophobics and the rest of us who are also potential patients.
Sohui first contacted several phobia societies to get to know more about the problem. Many turned them down as she is not affected by any phobia. In the end she found a specialist who help her investigate the issue.
The first object, Talk to Myself adresses the necessity for autophobics to communicate with themselves in order to know better what’s going on in their mind. The mask encloses the head of the autophobic. Inside are mirrors to look at yourself into the eyes and a simple system allows the wearer to hear only what he or she is saying.
The Phobic to Phobic object has been designed to dialogue in total anonymity with people who suffer from the same phobia, removing any fear to be judged and feel ashamed. It works via the Autophobia society. When a user picks up the phone, he or she is randomly connected to other agoraphobics belonging to the same society, they can talk and feel the other person’s movement through the surface of the phone.
The Talk to Trees is a whispering machine that transfers the movement of things of things outside of the phobic’s window into laughs when there’s enough movement outside or into whispers when there’s no mouvement.