The cocoon-like nature of the furniture is related to the experience of playing games on the PSP. Initial inspiration came from observing group play at a barbecue: when still light in the early evening, a group of players put their coats over their heads to create shade and see the PSP's screen better. Despite not being able to see each other at all, they continued to happily taunt, insult and otherwise interact with each other as is the norm throughout the course of a game. Later on, the students observed people huddled together during play, adopting statue-like poses and postures – some sitting, some standing, some leaning – largely unaware of the party going on around them.
This everyday re-appropriation and simple, utilitarian acts on the part of the players became useful metaphors for what the students found most interesting about the PSP, as well as other devices like it: that they are simultaneously public and private objects, that they encourage shared experience but require a degree of isolation and immersion, and that proximity is as much a factor as mobility. We aimed to question and address the immateriality and relatively new language of use of these devices. What impact will they have on future patterns of living?
Client: Sony Computer Entertainment UK
Exhibited at the Royal College of Art, December 2006 and at Bank of America, February 2006
Photography: Tom Fecht --www.tomfecht.com
December 2005
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