Upon on writing about public transportation and well-being in London, I found more and more evidences about how commuting time, i.e. transitioning time, is actually benefiting our mental health and better equip ourselves for shifting in between identities in the poly-social reality we are all living in. So I started thinking about building an installation to externalize the mind-state of zoning out as a probe to study our sensory and emotional elements during our commute on public transport.
“With an interest in understanding our travel behaviour and commute time, The Shift explores the relationship between public transportation and social cohesion.
Researches have shown that our work commute, ideally 30 minutes, could positively contribute towards our social capital (community participation and general trust) and prepare ourselves for role shifting.
By externalising the mind-space of zoning out in our daily commute, The Shift acts a probe looking into our sensory and emotional experience during our journey and how it could be useful for better support of transport policymaking.”
With this statement in mind, I think I have a clearer vision of what I wanted to build for the Work-in-Progress show.
After several experiments, head-banging sessions and prototyping, I came up with some sketches:
I wanted to build a semi-transparent “revolving door” structure as a metaphor of “performing same actions in our protected mind-space with other strangers”. However, given the time and space, I can’t build the structure in time, so I tried building a smaller one. Here are some WIP pics for the WIP:
more sketches about the set up
testing the space and pace of the rotating speed
more experiment with the materials and stabbing my finger and left a scar
it’s getting there!
final product
It has definitely been fun building the structure and seeing how people interact with it. However, I think it doesn’t translate the context of it well. It’s been a struggle trying to figure out ways to present the information from my research and the purpose/metaphor of the structure.
Latest Update: After 2 weeks of reflections, I think I will adjust the structure (potentially making it into a reflective screen) and add some video elements. Stay tuned!
In Progress 