Immersive Experience
Research, Design and Making
London, UK
March 2020
Everyone is an Island
Everyone is an Island is an immersive, multi-sensory experience that encourages individual 18–25-year-old university students to explore the balance between solitude and companionship. It is staged at an art warehouse in East London. Visitors reflect on their ways of building relationships in today’s hyper-connected world, where they can sometimes be inundated with social interactions while at other times, they find themselves quite alone. Both situations jeopardise their mental health.
By evoking feelings of over-socialisation and over-isolation in a series of rooms with different atmospheres, Everyone is an Island creates a storyworld for the audience to explore the emotions arising from unwanted socialising or unwanted solitude. As they respond to questions, they are taken on a journey that encourages them to reflect critically on building and sustaining relationships.
Collaborators:
Nong Hua Li and, Shuyue Ren, Interaction design
Rocio B.R. Aloe and Shiyong Zhao, Graphic design
Cathou Averback, James Nasmyth and Jennifer Yang, Concept development
Ciara Amas, Amaani Bokhari, Three Gleave, Harry Jackson, Daniel McGarry, Zac McGarry, Alex Mclouphlin, Eunbi Kim, Phark Lertchanyakul and Yejing Yin, Audio performance
Mandy Liu, Lighting design
Sophya Welle, Fabric technique