Face to Face, We gaze into the Distance.

“Drama Box” Design Competition, First Place, 1-year Outdoor Exhibition

Site: Guangzhou, China

Team: Jewel Pei, Wei Huang, Yiran Zhang

Faced with the topic “Drama Box”, we want to reflect on the phenomenon where human relationships are over-mediated by cyber space— people physically gather in the same space, yet still communicate through digital devices.

The installation features a suspended black box covered with mirrors on the interior. Stepping onto the stairs, visitors will stick their heads into the box. Each visitor is separated from one another by mirrors, so that one only sees reflections of others but never directly at another. The installation is a stage activated by visitors. In the eyes of spectators on the outside, the participants might seem as comical and unselfconscious as wearing VR glasses.

Does the digital media connect people or push people apart? Our installation does not wish to make a moral or value judgement, but to suspend prejudice and present the interpersonal relationships reconfigured by cyber space—even when our bodies gather, we only see each other from a distance.