Presenting Trial 3 of You Are Here, my experiment in emotional cartography.  You’ll find the full results  below.  This round of testing took place on March 9th, 2012, over on the Eastside at the Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM).  Trial 3 began around dusk for the Members’ Reception, and continued into the evening, during BAMignite.

I enjoyed several stellar conversations about the project and was dually excited about all the meaningful questions and new ideas.  In fact, I had to create two new “categories” to present the BAM results, as several participants placed their emotional markers in previously uncharted territory.  I refer to those anomalies as “Circumplexian Sentiments” in the results.

So many patrons’ inquiries stumped me and made my brain itch a bit.   Many introduced completely new concepts to consider.  One participant turned me onto the work of artist Christian Nold, who has used GPS, people and polygraph to create “emotional maps” of cities.

        

It’s hard to say what my favorite interaction of the night was.  If I had to choose, perhaps it was a conversation I overheard between a participant and his friend.  A man tied a marker on the circumplex near a negative emotion, and in doing so, expressed that he was feeling exposed.  It’s awesome that he decided to interact honestly, despite feeling vulnerable.  Plus, the whole scene reminded me of a poster my grandparents used to have.  To my disappointment, no one flashed the installment, but I’m considering making that my new gauge of success.

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 Trial 3 Results