The Box for Expression project is an interactive installation that supports storytelling actions in the open space of the city. It is a small-scale modular infrastructure that can be disassembled, transported and installed in different parts of the city depending on the needs of each action. It addresses and is available to creative groups active in the field of oral history or artistic and sociological research in the urban landscape.
It is a booth covered on the outside with mirrors reflecting the landscape that surrounds it but also the faces that approach it. In that way it harmonizes aesthetically with the city, while at the same time symbolizes the introspection that each participant is asked to perform by participating in the action. Οn the one hand it allows direct access and visual contact between the inside and the outside and on the other hand it creates a sense of privacy in the bustling urban landscape. Finally, the large revolving door combined with additional ramps ensures the use of the infrastructure by people with mobility difficulties.
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In the first series of events, the "Box for Expression" was activated for the action "Public Toilet of Thoughts". Through this case study we sought to collectively leave behind our emotional burdens and relieve ourselves from the long period of confinement during the Covid 19 pandemic. Social distancing due to quarantine has come to intensify the social isolation of the modern metropolis. Based on this idea, we created a symbolic space to connect the passerby with the neighborhood and the community that inhabits it, and we shaped a process of sharing where the physical space of the city offers thoughts, narratives, sounds and images to enhance our social imaginary.
More information about the project can be found here: www.boxforexpression.gr
The project was created through the partnership of three different bodies: the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication of the University of the Aegean, Open Lab Athens and Ludd. It was supported and funded by the Actors of Urban Change program 2019-2021.