Columbia University Thesis Show at Fisher Landau Center for Art
May 09, 2010
The Conversation Booth is constructed around the sociological conclusion that the maximum number of participants in a single cohesive conversation is five. When a sixth (or more) is added to a group, it will inevitably splinter into multiple conversations. Based on this social understanding, Conversation Booth is an attempt to maintain the most inclusive space possible while simultaneously creating an exclusive and isolated haven.
Conversation Booth is composed of five identical autonomous throne-like mobile sculptures which can be fitted together to form a single, secured, room-like enclosure, similar to a private restaurant booth or a closed Japanese izakaya seating space. When the five parts are fitted together they complete a circuit, triggering L.E.D. lights that illuminate above the heads of the participants. These lights are contingent on the booth remaining in place, acting as a motivator for the participants to keep the circle together. Conversely, the 5 components can also be fitted together backwards, in a straight row, ensuring that each chair is completely isolated from its neighbors.
By controlling the proximity and inevitability of a cohesive conversation, the Booth can be used as a forum for social programming. Depending on the environment in which the sculpture is found, the formation of the actual booth is more or less implicit. Assuming that each participant is exercising free will, the puzzle-like application of the piece as a conversation vessel or as an isolator is dictated by the degree to which each participant feels the ‘nudge’ of organizing themselves within the greater space of the sculpture. Once completed, Booth can be the facilitator, rather than a lecture hall or round table, of singular, contained discussion. As a new medium for focused conversation, there are many possibilities for the use of the Booth as a traveling public work, academic experiment or personal contraption.