I did some chalk prototyping on my idea, which was really valuable in terms of user’s feelings and how they are interested in interacting with the project. This documentation is from midnight in Washington Heights (murder central). I found my subjects were (oddly) not as comfortable imitating the dead as I am. One subject had a visceral reaction where she was visibly uncomfortable and her voice octave reflected that. I wanted it to be a disturbing experience, but i didn’t realize just how disturbing it could be. They also were unhappy with unhygienic nature of the experience. And, they were incredibly uncomfortable whenever a passerby happened on the scene.
Based on these experiences, I’d like to explore an indoor installation type version, where you can experience this, but in a safe place. Alternatively, as Alex suggested (and the prototype users), to keep it in outdoor physical space, it could be an outline on a wall, where the user needs to lean against the wall, rather than lying on the ground.
In related news, I’m exploring using human breath to disappear a message or to turn off the outline, as human breath is the signifier of life.
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