product designer and space manager, Ludd/Practa
The “Box for Expression” project seeks to implement an installation that will support storytelling and sharing experiences in the open space of the city.
It is a small scale modular/mobile infrastructure, which will be installed in different parts of the city of Athens depending on the needs of each action. It will be available for creative groups in the city of Athens that are active in the field of oral history, arts or research of any kind in the urban space.
The infrastructure is a box externally covered with mirrors, reflecting the landscape where it is hosted, and creating an aesthetic harmony with its surrounding environment, while at the same time, reflecting the subjects approaching it, inviting (us) to an introspection process through experiencing its action.
In the first pilot action, it will function as a “Public Toilet of Thoughts”, through which, we seek to collectively reject the thoughts and feelings that oppress us and be relieved of the long period of Covid-confinement.
The social distancing due to the pandemic came to intensify the social isolation of the contemporary urban space. We want, therefore, to create a symbolic space connecting the passer-by with the neighborhood and the community that inhabits it.
The “Public Toilet of Thoughts” is an open invitation to co-create a sharing process where the physical space of the city will be fed with thoughts, narratives, sounds, and images of our social imaginary.
The Team:
The project emerged through the partnership of three different bodies: The Image, Sound and Cultural Representation Lab (ISCRL) of the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication (University of the Aegean), the Open Lab Athens and the Ludd Lab. It is supported and funded by the Actors of Urban Change 2019-2021 program.
