Very Impressive (!!!!!) was a socially sourced installation, intending to make community visible.
My thesis work culminated in this big grid-like installation. I wanted to end my time at the Fine Arts Department on a positive note, the kind of positivity that spreads hope, kindness, and cheer. My goal was to make something fun and positive that demonstrated the concept of community.
At this point, I was heavily immersed in affect theory, as well as interested in making work where people could interact with it, vs a static drawing or object.
The process:
-> Asking folks to submit messages of encouragement, advice, etc through an online form
-> Compiling, editing and illustrating messages
-> Making posters for a big installation (a total of 5 x 5 x 5= 125 posters)
-> Visitors encouraged to ‘Take One!’ as they interacted with the show.
The posters were a play on the tear-off bus stop posters. There were a total of a 1000 tear-offs for people to take.
As more folks interacted and took parts of the poster, they received words of encouragement & advice from the people that sent in those messages.
In creating a circle of positive affect, and in having the objects disappear with interaction, community became visible: From one stranger to another.
I learnt a lot from this work. A few posters disappeared entirely, and several of the the posters were empty. The preparation of this installation included a lot of prototyping for interaction, including user testing.
(University of Waterloo Art Gallery, 2019)