CHERI
CHAN



    TEXTILE// Untitled *Dobby Collection
    // Goldfish Street
    DIGITAL + MEDIA// Echo Chamber
    // Murmur
    // Lack of .


    InfoPortfolio

    Echo Chamber
    Installation / Performance
    2024

    Echo Chamber is inspired by Bentham's 18th-century concept of the "Panopticon", a perfect prison system where cells surround a central watchtower, allowing constant surveillance of prisoners. In our installation, we recreate a room with a similar structure to explore the power dynamics between the observer and the observed. Participants voluntarily take on one of the two roles without knowing their specific tasks.


    We intend to establish a utopian exchange where knowledge is not withheld and instead shared unflinchingly among the masses. In this society, people are asked to confess their secrets in order to foster a more open and honest social environment. But to be heard, one must be listened to; the surveiller has the authority to listen to the confessor's secrets and collect their private information.




    Captions            
    1. Cat Ashley in the Listening Room
    2. Cofession Booth



    Echo Chamber is an immersive interactive installation that encourages active viewer participation. This project combines video, sound, and Arduino-based coding with sensors to detect human presence. It then plays a prerecorded authoritative voice script, guiding participants through a unique confession process. The audio-oriented system initially guides the audience to a main open area and then disperses them into separate spaces called 'confession booths'. These booths feature audio prompts for participants to interact with. The system records the answers provided by individuals, aiming to enrich a 'knowledge vault' for a better future.

    The project claims to use data collection as a means to strive for collective benefit and societal advancement. However, in reality, the system may exploit users' trust and participation to secretly gather large amounts of personal information, including sensitive data. Participants have the opportunity to take turns being both the 'victims' (those being listened to) and the 'listeners', as one of the spaces contains a headset that live streams audio from the other confession booths.