Il gattopardo the game

IL GATTOPARDO Love before and after Tinder

IL GATTOPARDO Love before and after Tinder

A project by Architect Alice Barsottini In collaboration with

Il Gattopardo

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©creativeshootslondon Il Gattopardo

EVENT

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INTRODUC

CTION “Meeting someone new in London is hard!”.

I have to admit that I was shocked when a friend of mine, who had been single and looking for a relationship for a while, told me this last year. London, with so many people, would seem the least likely place where it’s difficult to meet someone new.

IlIntroduction Gattopardo

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This is not an isolated case. I’ve spoken with a lot of people and read numerous articles and this seems the norm.

Why? How is it possible?

We’re surrounded by people everywhere but they claim it’s hard to bump into someone or to have a spontaneous face to face meeting with someone anywhere.

Il Gattopardo

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Il Gattopardo

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Intergenerational Il Gattopardo Event: Virtual connection moment of a visitor inside the immersive event

Šcreativeshootslondon Il Gattopardo

EVENT

Intergenerational

Introduction

Il Gattopardo

WE ARE Šandrea morelli ph.

We belong more to the virtual space than the physical one

CONTEXT

Since I was a child I have always been attracted by human relationships and how they form; I have always tried to understand the feelings of people around me. I suppose I have a natural inclination to sociology.

This is why the project is focused on the impacts of Online Dating as one of the results of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on human relationships.

Context

As we spend more time building relations virtually, are we losing the social skills necessary for the non-virtual kind of human interaction?

Il Gattopardo

Šandrea morelli ph.

Picture 2 - Human technology interaction in modern society.

Florence, 2016, Ph. Andrea Morelli

Percentage of users

Context

»» The share of 18 to 24-year-olds who use online dating has roughly tripled in the last two years. »» Online dating has lost much of its stigma. »» One-third of people who have used online dating have never actually gone on a date with someone they met on these sites.

Image 3 - PEW Center Research analysis shows that the use of online dating sites or mobile apps by young adults has nearly tripled since 2013

THE DIGITAL RISE

Age groups

Context

WE

Image 4 - Usual “interactions” in public spaces.

Source: Personal research pictures archive.

Il Gattopardo

INTERACT

Context

Some sociologists think that the use of dating apps and online dating could increase virtual connections between people who are apart, and fade physical encounters between close ones.

Nowadays we live in a society where people have a lesser need to approach others in real life because we have all the answers at our fingertips in our phones.

Research Question

HOW CAN WE RE-INHERIT THE IMPORTANCE OF REAL LIFE PHYSICAL ENCOUNTERS FROM PAST GENERATIONS?

WHAT

Il Gattopardo is a fun immersive game about dating, which unfolds in a one night event at the Italian Cultural Institute in London with the aim of raising awareness about the future of dating in our society.

The event incorporates a twenty-minute immersive experience during which, through videos, audio and role

Diagram of the narrative elements

What

playing, participants explore changes in dating habits from London’s present to Italy’s past to start an Intergenerational Discussion about our present dating culture.

In a world where everybody is asking for more romance, the narrative plot is created matching stories from an Italian village and London creating a multilayered narration that is intriguing and matching past and present cultures to show where we are now and raising the question of where the future will take us.

Scheme of the main narrative

What

WHY

The project aims to challenge the current rise of online dating and dating apps and let people reflect on the importance of maintaining an equilibrium between virtual and non-virtual kinds of relations in our future. The wish is that it may lead the way for a series of similar events for other specific

Why

dualities in different cultures and could investigate the Intergenerational Discussion all over the world.

Quote

HOW

During our project we’ve collected stories of how people met.

We’ve done this in a number of ways: 1) Face to face during our interviews with our target audience.

2) Online through Facebook pages and groups 3) Meetup groups 4) A special form online to gather people’s stories.

How

While the first ones could be considered a standard to gather the stories for our event, the latter is uncommon. The objective was not only to collect stories from the elder generation in Italy and the young generations in London.

We wanted to create an intergenerational commentary.

Il Gattopardo

This was achieved by: A) Sharing two forms, one in Italian for the elder generation and one in English to be shared with the young generation in London.

B) Promoting the form with relevant media. For example, for the elder generation in Italy we contacted various national newspapers and we got an interview with one of them.

C) Translating the stories from Italian to English and vice-versa and get people’s reactions upon hearing the stories of the other group.

D) Mixing all together and creating a script that was used in the Level 2: Intergenerational Commentary.

USER EXPER

RIENCE

Sarah is a 30 year old woman, originally from Italy. She started using dating apps one year ago.

Similarly, Josh, at 28 years of age, has moved to London 5 years ago and works in the financial sector. He enjoys his single life and uses Tinder for hookups.

Sara feels online dating is just a game to them. She still hopes to meet someone in the real world i.e. the old fashioned way. She often feels that something is missing – only she cannot quite put her finger on it.

One Friday night, Sara and Josh both notice a Facebook page entitled “The Bank of Stories”, inviting anyone to donate their stories about first time encounters with partners

Perspective bird view of the plan of the event

Perspective bird view of the plan of the event

Perspective bird view of the plan of the event

Perspective bird view of the plan of the event

EVENT DES

SIGN Along side the audio and videos the event is characterized by a unique scenography that has been used to represent a typical Italian village of the past.

The created panels have been shaped over hundred of images of typical Italians buildings and scenes.

The material used is mdf wood panel cut out with cnc machine system from files created just for the event.

To make the environment more fun and warmer as Italy and to create a realistic street to have a nice stroll, some parts of the wood have been painted with bright colour.

The colours we have used are typical of the 1960s and 1970s in Italy.

Event Design

The design concept has been also expressed through the use of two main elements.

The red colour as a meaning of the present opposed to the black and white of the past and the tulle.

The use of tulle as the main material is to create the transition of each person from the virtual meeting to the physical one across the wall that changes from opaque to transparent across the use of different numbers of layers.

Sketch of the design concept

Scenography Design

Ladies working in the street. Castelfiorentino (Italy) 1945. Original picture, source Historical Archive Castelfiorentino

Il Gattopardo

Artistic Interpretation

Scenography Design

Typical ecclesiastical architecture and view of the village of Castelfiorentino

Il Gattopardo

Artistic Interpretation

Scenography Design

Historical landmark in Castelfiorentino, “Arco di Costa�.

Il Gattopardo

Artistic Interpretation

Scenography Design

Sunday dance, the only way for first encounters.

Il Gattopardo

Artistic Interpretation

FOR WHO

Il Gattopardo is thought for people that use online dating and dating apps and live in a major city (in this first event, London). They are 24-34 years old as they are the most impacted by the Internet revolution.

Potentially, they “feel� either that there is something missing or are uncomfortable

with some of the issues with the contemporary dating culture.

WHEN & W

WHERE The event is hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute in London on 12th April 2016.

The Italian Cultural Institute as a client is related to Il Gattopardo as they want to “promote the image of Italy as a centre of production, conservation and diffusion of culture

from the Classical age to nowadays�. In fact, in this first episode, Il Gattopardo is representing a particular scenario of the past through real stories told by the inhabitants of Castelfiorentino, a small village in Tuscany. The stories had been collected by the promotion of a Bank of Stories online and offline and are going to be told to a young audience of London, the same people the Institute is interested in captivating.

ICI ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE 39 Belgrave Square London SW1X 8NX

THE EVENT

Il Gattopardo is conceived as a series of events, the first of which, held on 12th April 2016, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in London.

The name “Il Gattopardo� is borrowed from a disused dance hall in Castelfiorentino, which was once a popular venue for courtship through dance.

PREVIOUS PAGE: A visitor experiencing our chat and video on tulle.

THIS PAGE: from top left to bottom right; yellow team chatting and members of the gray team answering.

PREVIOUS PAGE: two members of the yellow team watching the video of “Virtual Intimacy” through the layered tulle.

THIS PAGE: from top left to bottom right down; three cardboard figures as storytellers, a moment during the video “Virtual Intimacy”, the team listening with their Maestro.

PREVIOUS PAGE: A matched couple during their real life encounter.

THIS PAGE: from top left to bottom right; other matched couple experiencing the stroll, the calling to the ballroom.

PREVIOUS PAGE: dialogue between participants at the ballroom.

THIS PAGE: from top left to bottom right; visitors enjoying chatting and sharing reflections in the “Il Gattopardo” ballroom while listening to our selection of music; a visitor enthusiastic of her badge with her avatar’s name.

CONCLUSIO

ON My original research question was to understand “how dating apps have changed the way we interact”.

My aim has never been to answer directly and force our view on the audience but give them the ‘instruments’ to answer it directly and form their own view and to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of online dating.

COLLABORA & SPONSOR

ATORS R

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT & CREATIVE WRITING Annemarie Mayo CONCEPT & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Leonardo Puleggi SOUND DESIGN Sara Fedi MOTION DESIGN Alice Pagano AUDIO PRODUCTION DIRECTION Erica Muscat

PHOTOGRAPHY Ilaria Foresi, Andrea Morelli CAMERA MAN Kohei Kanomata VIDEO EDITING Elaine Lazzaris ACTRESS Citra Oktaviana TUTOR Inigo Minns COURSE LEADER Tricia Austin SPECIAL THANKS TO Italian Cultural Institute Eleonora Spinelli Jeka ltd Irene Mazzarrini Barteco srl Dfab studio Bethany Shepherd, Sara Stransby, Karina Lee, Stuart Jones, Margaret Wagstaff, Katherine Skellon, all my fellow classmates and my parents.

THE TEAM:

PARTNERS: