Free Flow + Death
A few weeks ago the Interaction Design Bachelor ZHdK mentors and all year of 2018 students went to the Atelierhäuser am Waldrand artists refuge close to Zurich to spend two day flowing free, stepping out of the box and leaving the concrete walls of our “home institution”-building the Toni-Areal behind us.
I was nervous and did not know what to expect from these two days. On one hand I did not wanted to have too high expectations, but I was looking forward at the same time. And I did not get disappointed. The two days were filled with sunshine, creative energy, good vibes, delicious food, calming nature and inspiring activities and discussions.
I knew from the beginning that I am interested in the topics of death, dying and the transience of life but I stared the free flow retreat with an open mind for topics and interests. Yet it became clear to me relatively quickly that my bachelor’s thesis is most likely going to be in this field. It helped to hold onto a topic for the various exercises we did. To talk about a rather specific field of theme was easier to me and felt more fruitful than some discussions I had that were more general. But I think that is my very personal opinion and was my personal experience.
Throughout the process I found out that Sophie is interested in the same topics. Discussing and brainstorming with her was very helpful and inspiring and we naturally decided to collaborate for the given performance exercise where we tried to simulate how it could possibly feel to die. We asked the participants of our performance to stand still, their face turned towards the sun, eyes closed. First sensing only, the warmth of the sun and trying to forget one’s body. Second, we told the group to cover their ears and sensing that difference, maybe they could even hear their own blood? And third we invited them to hum on top of the other things. We figured, if humming, while the visual and sense of hearing are muted you can get in a totally different frequency, detach yourself from the earth. Maybe that’s how it feels to die?
Some findings were that more specifically I am interested in death and dying with a focus of one’s own death. What if we could live through our death, what if we can practice dying? Maybe to become fully aware of our own mortality we need something like a death simulator. A black (or after some feedback of a mentor perhaps better white) box that the visitor steps into, the person gets noise cancelling headphones, the temperature is matching the exact body temperature, and all white light (or full darkness). No senses anymore like in Sophie’s and my performance.
Additionally I am interested in public installations, performances and interventions. I can imagine myself pairing the topic of death with workshops, discussions and maybe an installation in public places and spaces for my BA thesis. But all those terms are mostly buzzwords for me at the moment. But I get more and more excited to really start working on things.
