Project 3: Interactivity

My intention for this project was to make an anonymous collection box for people to find relief through. In asking the audience directly for their confessions, fears, worries, secrets, things 'to let go of', I hoped to collect the communities negativity and release it through a public burning of the paper and the box. Burning is used near universally as a tool with which to let go of the past, whether it be old belongings or the deceased. The communal fears and worries would go through a similar transformative journey, in their collection and decimation. I provided pens and 3 by 4 inch papers for the community to write with.

Interactivity requires external action from participants, and I wanted the audience to willingly, knowingly, and thoughtfully engage in the project. By making the project anonymous, I expected people to dig deep and pull out what's been eating them, without fear of judgement. What they let go of, how serious or silly their confession is, reflects their needs at the time of writing. The audience and the community decided how to engage the piece, with only my instructions and my materials offered. That kind of independance is something I consider very successful when incorporated into a project; people want the freedom to to what they want, and given the chance they run with it. The paper I provided was gone within 48 hours, and looking into the slot it seems most of it had been used for the intended purpose.

Most effective was the openness of the project to the community. The people who chose to write did so because something in the concept of release and confession spoke to them, because that fit a specific need of theirs. In watching the box in the Campus Center courtyard, I saw groups of people at a time reading and writing on the box, and during my maitenance of the matierals and the moving of the piece, I got questioned on my intention and inspiration. It was very briefly a part of the community.

Also effective was the burning of the box, though despite being announced on the front did not gain an immediate croud, had in passerby been questioned and viewed. A few people even asked if they could write a confession during the burning, which of course they could and then did. The construction of the box worked perfectly as a grill and chimney, to destroy and release the campus's confessions. It then fell in on itself, burning evenly and releasing my work and worry over the project.