Maria Calderon
Description
The Social Media Daring Game is a two-player experience that challenges users to complete dares of increasing difficulty in their social media accounts. By challenging people to do a series of dares, this experience invites them to reconsider their attachment to their online personas and also have a sense of how these have the potential to unconsciously frame their perception of themselves. The experience starts with players being asked to submit which social media platforms they use in order to give each user dares that correspond with these. Once the game starts, players are then challenged to fulfill three rounds of dares, starting in the first round with low-risk dares which then increase in difficulty each round. Along with trying to complete three dares under a set amount of time, users also have the choice to swap dares with each other or give up. At the end, players are given a reward depending on the number of dares they complete. Initially, the reward was meant to be a series of stickers with the phrase “I share, therefore I am”, which for me encompasses the sheer influence that social media has had in our society.
Maria Calderon
Description
With social media platforms’ infinite scroll capabilities, most people have become desensitized to the sheer amount of information and emotions they are exposed to in their online feeds, quickly scrolling or swiping past content that does not instantly draw their attention.
Infinite Scroll is an interactive installation that seeks to address this mindless scrolling by extending the feed outside of the phone, allowing users to see all the content they have scrolled through. This experience prompts users to scroll on a phone as they would normally do, yet as it is done, keeps the scrolled feed visible as a projection that flows out of the phone, engulfing the wall. Face to face with all the content they glanced at, users are encouraged to question how much of it they actually retained, and to reflect on what this means as it becomes increasingly easy to disregard content in social media feeds.
Luize Rieksta, Maria Calderon, Will Mlekush
Description
For this piece, we drew inspiration from Alex Villar’s “Temporary Occupations”, which shows how the infrastructure and architecture of a space enforce movement and determine spatial codes. We decided to adapt Villar’s concept to our campus and its infrastructure, more specifically – the suicide barriers that NYUAD implemented after the transition to the Saadiyat campus. This adaptation focuses Villar’s concept on the social issue of suicide. Positioning ourselves in the vulnerable spaces between these barriers, we interrogate such responsive spatial interventions, asking questions of purpose, effectiveness, and agency.
Why place suicide barriers in some areas and not others? There are notable gaps near the Torch Club and around various sets of stairs on campus. There are also gaps on the high walls behind the Campus Center, an area of low pedestrian traffic. Surveillance cameras were also placed around most of the non-barred areas. What benefit comes from these cameras’ placement? How do these barriers contribute to dealing with suicide? What constitutes an effective intervention? How does the presence of these barriers affect the behaviors of residents and visitors?