Switching Opinions
Concept
Filming
CRITICAL DESIGN PROJECT
I don’t want to form an opinion, I want to follow one.
Switching Opinions came to be after reflecting on the echo chamber that we find ourselves in nowadays.
Social media, our news sources, and even search engines are telling us what we want to hear, instead of a diverse overview of different opinions and sources. Things like our online friends, physical location, search history, and our likes, instead of expanding our worldview, are narrowing it. With platforms like Facebook and Twitter we rarely encounter opinions critical to ours and find ourselves without a place for constructive discussion. We give quick likes or dislikes, sometimes without even reading articles and quite likely without reflecting and considering all the other factors, it’s as though we would rather follow an opinion than form our own.
Switching Opinions is an installation that reflects upon this echo chamber. We set it up for the better part of a Friday in the design common area of Emily Carr, a space that is often used for participative surveys amongst the students. The installation consisted of two lamps, one with a yes and the other a no taped on it, and a light switch in the center of the two that would not actually change which light was currently on. We had this installed on a table in front of a blackboard wall, and on the wall was an opinion that we choose thinking that the majority of students would disagree with it. The opinion itself changed regularly and was never the focus of the installation. We provided chalk and a cloth for erasing and waited to see what would happen. The five minute video of Switching Opinions, are the interactions that resulted during the day that it was installed.
Project with Anna Heib, Josie Vlitos and Robin Spence.
I don’t want to form an opinion, I want to follow one.
Switching Opinions came to be after reflecting on the echo chamber that we find ourselves in nowadays.
Social media, our news sources, and even search engines are telling us what we want to hear, instead of a diverse overview of different opinions and sources. Things like our online friends, physical location, search history, and our likes, instead of expanding our worldview, are narrowing it. With platforms like Facebook and Twitter we rarely encounter opinions critical to ours and find ourselves without a place for constructive discussion. We give quick likes or dislikes, sometimes without even reading articles and quite likely without reflecting and considering all the other factors, it’s as though we would rather follow an opinion than form our own.
Switching Opinions is an installation that reflects upon this echo chamber. We set it up for the better part of a Friday in the design common area of Emily Carr, a space that is often used for participative surveys amongst the students. The installation consisted of two lamps, one with a yes and the other a no taped on it, and a light switch in the center of the two that would not actually change which light was currently on. We had this installed on a table in front of a blackboard wall, and on the wall was an opinion that we choose thinking that the majority of students would disagree with it. The opinion itself changed regularly and was never the focus of the installation. We provided chalk and a cloth for erasing and waited to see what would happen. The five minute video of Switching Opinions, are the interactions that resulted during the day that it was installed.
Project with Anna Heib, Josie Vlitos and Robin Spence.
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“All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you.” — Octavia E. Butler