THERE’S A WHOLE NEW CREATIVE FIELD COMING UP AROUND THE EXPERIENCE DESIGN OF A HYBRID EVENT.

CAN YOU SEE THIS WORK LEADING TO A BETTER VERSION OF SKYPE OR ZOOM AT SOME POINT?

Yeah, definitely. There’s already lots of tech conferences, and design conferences, that are becoming more critical towards technologies like Skype or Zoom, which are more commercially oriented.

We are experimenting with the way someone can experience an event and feel equally as present, online or on site. You don’t need to see a face or need a webcam to feel present. There are many other ways. So I see there’s a whole new creative field coming up around the experience design for hybrid events.

IS YOUR 'TOOLKIT FOR THE INBETWEEN' RELATED TO THIS?

I would say yes. The toolkit for the inbetween was born out of the same need – the need to connect virtual and physical spaces. It’s a collaboration between 'The Hmm,' and 'MU', which is a hybrid arthouse in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, and affect lab. Together we provide the research and design into hybrid experiences which will be translated into an online toolkit.

We feel it’s a really exciting space between the online and on site experience.

THE REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLDS, WHICH YOU PULL TOGETHER, SEEM TO BE DIVERGING EVERYWHERE ELSE, DON’T THEY?

That divergence is what interested me in trying to connect these worlds.

Back in the day, when I started working as an interactive artist, smartphones were just arriving. And it didn’t take

Duodisco

There is only one person who is listening to the same song, find the person dancing to the same rhythm and tunes!

long before, if you’re on public transport, everyone was just looking at their phones.

They had no contact with the other people on the bus or train.

For me, that was a trigger, because I saw this mobile device as a very interesting way to connect people too. In fact, the people on the bus are probably very sociable. They’re on Twitter or Facebook, or, reading a newspaper, and thinking about what’s going on in the world. While, at the same time, the phone blocks them from seeing their environment.

So, I thought, you could use the phone to connect to your environment. One project that was born out of that idea was DuoDisco, where everyone is wearing headphones.

HOW DO YOU GET THAT TO ‘COME TOGETHER’?

The trick of DuoDisco was that there’s always one other person listening to the same song as you. So constantly, you have to find your partner, and your partner keeps changing. It’s a nice way to break the ice, to connect through music and dance moves.

For example, a song like 'The Macarena' or 'Walk Like an Egyptian' is easy to recognize your partner, using the known dance moves. Other songs are more challenging when you need to recognize the rhythm of the moves. It was very simple and fun. Projects don’t always need to be super critical and heavy. Sometimes it can be light and just bring some joy, some surprise, and bring people together.

IS IT TOUGH TO MAKE THINGS FUN WHEN DEALING WITH POTENTIALLY SERIOUS TOPICS?

It’s definitely challenging because sense of humour is such a personal thing.

For instance, the project we were supposed to launch today, it’s a serious topic. Some of the people who live in the neighbourhood where the experience is set do not want to ever talk about dark stores and flash delivery again. They are still traumatised.

But then, for the experience we created, we also wanted to add a bit of lightness and fun as you’re walking through the neighbourhood. There’s a balance to find and that usually means testing it a lot with people to see how they respond.