Promote Intimacy: Kinship, Distance, Culture
Jingyu Ren
When an individual lives in a society or in a certain era, his behavior pattern, psychology and interpersonal relationships are not entirely determined by the individual. This research will investigate the intimacy border across distance, space, and culture through the insights of language habits, barrier effects and cultural disturbance.
By experimenting with the act of concealment and revelation, and by exchanging information and narratives, I wish to explore the underlying mechanisms that affect intimacy in both real-world and in virtual environments.
The influence of differences in language use on intimacy
I analyzed the influence of differences in language use on intimacy, visualized some dialogues, showed conflicts, and analyzed how language affects intimate interaction and ultimately leads to behavioral changes.
The conflicts
For my question “What linguistic triggers affect intimate interactions that lead to behavioral changes?”, I made these posters and videos to show the conflicts that exist between my mom and I, using this design methodology to amplify those embodiments(e.g. shadows and hands).
Experiments_1
I did a different series of experiments on how people respond to requests from strangers on the street. At Grand Central Terminal I randomly invited people to play with a paper toy I made about Grand Central Terminal. I tried to through this way collecting different stories about this certain place from different people. People's reactions varied widely.
Experiments_2
After several experiments I did on the street(about interviewing people), I conducted my last experiment on campus: I made this installation, invited classmates to come in, and tried to create a neutral space.
Experiments_3
Intimacy without distance can be suffocating, as often seem in relationships between parents and children living together, as well as lovers and couples. How do you make room for yourself and your partner in such a close relationship?
Experiments_4
Neutral space seems to be a state of non-interference, but exploring and finally obtaining neutral space in different relationships requires people to grasp the relationship and the sense of boundary, which is a psychological requirement.
Experiments_5
As designers, when we scaffold an engagement and experience that has certain constraints, it creates a kind of safety or security. When engaging people in a design experience or service or creating constraints such as pseudo, code, instruction, rules, that allow for people to feel they are in a safe space. Sometimes, constraints can allow for a kind of scaffolding that gives people structure, and then within that, they can riff or expand, or engage and allow for this amplification of expression and communication in a different relationship.