The Free Will Exhibition

Free Will

An Exhibition on Determinism

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Table of Contents

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Synopsis

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Introduction to Narrative Spaces

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Free Will - The Subject

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Mind Map

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Design Proposal

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Research

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Scope Plan and Final Narrative

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Bubble Maps and Movement

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Concept

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Initial Sketches

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Second Iteration

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Final Visualizations

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Acknowledgements

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Synopsis In today’s day and age, or really, in

which states that we have to

Exploding this content, in

any day and age, the matter of free

control of our thoughts, actions or

all its craft and nuance was a

will has been most dear to humans.

circumstances, and thus have no

challenge that would prove

The notion that we are, in fact, the

freedom of will.

futile once I realized that the

authors of our own thoughts and

exhibition must only speak of

actions, seems to run deep in all

The journey has been one, of

the idea and pique the interest

our social systems, whether it be

the challenging and finally,

of visitors in the theory, and

that of our own personal morals

abstract kind. To communicate a

not totally convince them of it;

or of the justice of the state. If we

theory with a complex structure

that can be left to the books.

were to question such a notion, as

that seems on the offence, to

many philosophers and scientists,

our current ideologies in a most

So I went on to create a narrative

with conviction and sound mind,

intrinsic manner, has been tricky

exhibition to contemplate such

have, it would surely mean we

to tackle. The source for my

an idea using physical, graphic,

would have to question the very

content and point of view has

sensory and synesthetic elements

foundation of all our beliefs and a

been from a single book – Free

to abstract such a theory on to

fundamental truth about our self –

Will, by Sam Harris, and some

a large white canvass of space.

can we really be held accountable

additional research. This book

for anything, bad or good?

tackles the subject in a creative

In this project I have decided to

and remarkably easy way and

create a narrative space that will

is thus the most comprehensive,

essentially be talking about this

accessible, and sensible book

idea or free will and the negation

on the matter.

of it, i.e. the theory of Determinism,

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Introduction Narrative Spaces are layers and layers of communication.

There are many ways, in which one can communicate spatially – through the sensory experience, the cognitive, and the aesthetic one. Most spaces are heavily dependent on either, but also work with a combination of the three. These are the tools in a Designers arsenal, to create a memorable experience.

Because, at the end of the day, that’s what a narrative space would hope to do – through a story, create an emotional and cognitive journey that will best communicate the intent of the exhibition.

A narrative space, in many analogies, can be looked at as a story or a film.

The relationship between each aspect of the exhibition is causal and intrinsically connected, and like any story, the space must have a beginning, middle, and an end.

The emotional journey one wishes to create will dictate the plot of such a story. There will be duller aspects and more climactic one, and they do no ‘just happen’, these ups and downs, the climax and conclusion, the build up,

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all must be carefully designed.

Such a space is, of course, not only bound by the

It is the seamless connecting of sub topics, large chunks and

basic emotional experience, in relation the content narrative.

variety of information, several desired micro experiences, the

It considers several other factors, such as movement, the

general macro experience, the intent, and every other aspect

aesthetic at every stage of the exhibition (the frames of the

and thought that goes into making an exhibition, in a way that

exhibition – viewing angles etcetera), time duration,

people can make complete sense of, and relate and react to,

the sensory experience, mode of representation and so

in a most intrinsic manner, giving the desired emotional and

much more.

otherwise, response to the exhibition.

All these must follow the general narrative in order

So we see that narrative experiences may be of many kinds

to form a carefully crafted, yet invisible, experience.

but follow the same basic principle and have the same purpose – to tell a story to engage people and best

Narrative spaces are thus an extremely powerful

communicate the intent and subject matter of an exhibition.

communication technique. It works on so many different

But, of course, unlike a story on paper, a story in space,

planes to communicate one key message using one

works on so many different planes and levels, methods,

carefully designed order that prompts, at every stage the

and points of communication. All these planes and levels

emotional reaction of the visitor and what he must

create for an effective, and honestly, just beautiful story that

take away from it. It essentially brings a sensible and

exploded into space.

approachable order to a subject that can be chaotic, that enhances theexperience to a significant degree.

As a person walks through an exhibition, he is likely to remember certain things and forget certain things. Here is where the narrative plays a significant role – in deciding the most memorable and important aspects of the exhibition within the flow of the exhibition to create the desired memories and the key take away.

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Free ‘Free Will does not exist’, says determinism.

And after you go through the entire theory,

the science, the philosophy, the reflection of self, the opposing theories, one will most

likely agree to such a counter intuitive philosophy, with a new found intuition and state of mind.

How does this affect us then? What does this mean for our justice system, if we are not in control of our actions and impulses? What does it mean then, for our morals, our relationships, our sense of self?

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will Are we truly responsible for any of our

misgivings, our success? Is a criminal truly responsible for his murders? Are we truly

responsible for our sanity, for the fact that, we are not those murderers?

We must take a hard look at the world and ourselves, in it; for when we do, we will realize that there is an evident need in social and systematic reform in our contemporary society.

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Scientific Aspects

Microneurological Structure = Tumor

Mind-Map

Experiences Are Just Memories

The mind map was an exercise

Brain As Any Other Organ

Violent Genes

And MoodBoard

Thoughts Just Emerge

Our Environment

The Unconcious

Consciousness

The Philosophy Determinism

the possible conclusions we board was an exercise in

Genes

Neurophysiology

in organising the research and can draw from them. The mood

Lab Experiments

Compatabilism

FREE WILL Consciousness

Why do we want things?

understanding and recognizing the desired look and feel of the

Chance

We Are Made of Stardust

exhibition .

Keeping these two in mind it became a lot clearer how the

Soul

Violent Soul

We Cannot Escape the Causal Stream

Therefore

exhibition should flow and look.

Causal Stream

Personal Relatioships

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Choice Still Matters

Hate vs Fear

Effort, Choice, Will power, Discipline.

Justice System

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Design Proposal The main intent of the exhibition is to create a space that allows people to receive information contemplate on the subject of free will.

In order to do this I had to create a very specific design proposal with a clear idea of my client and the audience, to begin with, and eventually, the context of the exhibition and the design approach I would be required to take based on the above-mentioned criteria, to best communicate the main intent and serve the primary function of the exhibition.

These factors will later affect the design, in its scope, methods of representation, scale, extent of content and expected perception of and reaction to the subject matter.

Subject

Context

Free Will. In our everyday lives, we take free will for granted. It is essential to everything we hold dear to us – law, politics, intimate relationships and morals. We all assume we have the power to make conscious choices.

But do we really have authorship of our thoughts? Do we really have free will?

This exhibition will try to disillusion the audience about the notions of free will.

The exhibition is a series of permanent exhibitions in prominent locations in big cities, accross the world.

In this modern age and multicultural society, people are growing more hateful. Even with our laws and principals, violence and dishonesty continues. This affects most individuals adversly.

In such a society, the understanding of the concept of free will and it’s inevitable consequences is more important than ever.

Intent

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To create a space that allows the audience to contemplate on the subject of free will.

The exhibition will try to show that free will is an illusion through presenting different thoeries of free will - determinism and compatabilism.

The exhibtion will manifest in favour of determinism but present compatabilism objectively for the benifit of the audience and their wholesome uderstanding of the subject.

The space must primarily provide the function of contemplation within the exhibtion while having an underlyin theme that is completely in cohesion with the subject matter.

Audience

Key Message

Primarily college graduates in big cities.

People in a position of authority, to affect social change and legal and moral systems.

Although the exhibition will be designed primarily for such and audience, the exhibition will aim to reach as many people as possible.

Free will is an illusion, in every sense of it. We do not have authorship of our thoughts and choices. This gives us an opportunity to look at the world, and individuals with a more evolved perception. This can affect change in our personal, social and justice systems. This can also allow us to feel extremely liberated.

Client

Communication Strategy

Social organization, propagating the need for revised values in individuals and legal systems based on the facts and reasoning provided by neuroscience, and the study of free will.

TONE - The tone of the exhibition should be firm but empathetic. It should be devoid of emotion but increasingly passionate.

Designer’s Ambition

MEDIA - The architecture and structures will provide a synesthetic understanding of the subject. The architecture will not be overbearing but purposeful. The lighting will be specific to the points of information and their requirements, but would generally be low, in order to provide intimacy. The forms should be clean, and the colours, grey scale with contrasts.

To learn how to communicate a large complex subject with intensity and objectivity. To advocate a theory/opinion that isn’t necassarily mine, but still has moral ground.

VOICE - The voice will be one that challanges the audience’s very instinct and intellect. It will be ruthlessly honest but compassionate and hopeful.

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Research 14

Benjamin Libet first exhibited the documented interest in free will when we conducted experiments using ECG brain scanners. People were made to choose between two buttons. They were free to take time and contemplate the choice, but had to mark the time at which they made the final decision.

During this period of choosing the experimenters recorded the brain activity.

These recordings showed the brain already made the decision before the subjects had conscious awareness of making this decision.

However determinism goes further to say that, the theory works even without the experiment. Neuroscience has shown that the micro neurological structure of the brain is unique to everyone – we are all wired to be a certain way. This combined with our genes and the circumstances that we live/grow up in, fully dictates our behavior, thoughts, and choices. As Sam Harris says, “you might observe that you no more decide the next thought you think than the next thought I write.”

This experiment showed that people aren’t aware of the causes for their decisions and thus have no free will. It applied however, only to small decisions and not big rational ones. More elaborate experiments in the future showed that a person’s behavior could be predicted in a clinical environment.

The conclusion that Sam Harris draws in his book is particularly relevant.

It advocates a more rational and objective system of justice that is based on facts and risk assessments. The premise for most justice systems around the world, rely entirely on the fact that the criminal in question has free will. But none of us do – in fact; a universe where we do have free will is inconceivable.

So are we truly responsible for our success or failures? If we were born in the exact same circumstance and with the exact same brain and body of a murderer, we would be that murderer. So what exactly is our sense of self?

Where is the freedom in that? We do not choose the circumstances we are born in – our parents, place of birth, time of birth, our genes, bodies, and brains. If all of these factors are ultimately responsible for the manifestation of our lives, and we had no choice in them, how can we say that we are free?

As for personal conclusions – knowing that we have no free will needn’t mean that we do nothing; doing nothing is a choice. We can never stop making choices - we simply cannot escape them. As Sam Harris famously writes, “Losing a belief in free will has not made me fatalistic—in fact, it has increased my feelings of freedom. My hopes, fears, and neuroses seem less personal and indelible. There is no telling how much I might change i n the future. Just as one wouldn’t draw a lasting conclusion about oneself on the basis of a brief experience of indigestion, one needn’t do so on the basis of how one has thought or behaved for vast stretches of time in the past. A creative change of inputs to the system—learning new skills, forming new relationships, adopting new habits of attention—may radically transform one’s life.”

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EVENTS Introduction

SIGNIFICANCE Explaining what is meant

CONTENT Idea (skim through)

History and Interest in

by Free Will.

How it all began. Where

Introducing free will Idea (skim through)

Free Will Internal and External

the interest came from.

Explaining the scientific

Historic context sensitised.

Idea + Artifact (highlight) Mentally and emotionally

Brain scans

Restricted Open, Large, Calm, Clean

Causes of Behaviour

aspects leading to the

Explaining Science

engaged.

Childhood artifacts

Geometric

Determinism

study of free will.

Highlighting the core

Idea + Activity (deep

Completely engaged,

Audio + Light Audio-visual Installations

Open, Large, Calm, Clean,

philosophy of the

digging)

challenged, trying to

exhibition.

Core of the exhibition

grasp the context, in a

Lab Experiments

Self Room

Contemplation Area

VISITOR EXPERIENCE Curious and neutral

MODES OF REP Graphic Panels

Trying to be informed and Graphic Panels

QUALITY OF SPACE Narrow, Focused, Restricted Narrow, Focused,

Geometric

Showing poeple scientific Activity (highlight)

private mind space.

Excited, anxious, dis-

Interactive installtion

Geometric, Clinical,

means and proof of the

Audience participates in

turbed, interacting with

Graphic panels with data

Restricted

core philosophy

the live lab experinment

the content and other

mapping

Showing the alternate

participants Idea + Activity (highlight) Recieving a different

Audio + Lighting

Closed geometric space

philosophies and talking

Subtley discrediting

point of view, contem-

Dynamic Visuals.

Reflective Surfaces

about one sense of self

the philosophy and

plating on both the

Mirrors

questioning sense of self

philosophies, etc. Intense

A zone to think about

Activity

reflection.

Being left alone to think.

Audio

Rounded, Encapsulating,

everything experienced

Extra reading materi-

Taking in the entire

Mirrorsv

Clean

in the exhibition.

al provided for further

subject matter

Contemplation before the thought and knowledge.

Conclusion

conclusion How this philosophy

Idea (deep digging)

Contemplating, deciding,

Audio- visuals

Open, Large, Calm, Clean,

-New Moral Ground-

affects us in the day to

Considering the entire

understanding the sub-

Artifacts

Geometric

day and our justice and

subject and applying it to ject fully in it’s implica-

moral system and every

our lives

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other aspect of our lives.

tions.

Liberated

Newspaper Clippings Case Studies

The Narrative The narrative of the exhibition is solely reliant on the order in which the content must be perceived, while keeping in account the emotional journey. There are eight major sections in the exhibition.

We begin with the introduction where the visitor is neutral and is briefly explained the significance of, interest in, and history of free will. They move along to understand the internal and external causes of behavior where, much of what the audience knows instinctively about behavior is reinforced, through audio-visuals, case studies and spatial synesthesia, creating a sense of empathy among the visitors towards criminals who are on an extreme end of behavior.

The audience is then introduced to the Lab Experiments where an experiment

much like the one Benjamin Libet performed is performed on the visitors. Along with this, graphic panels show the statistics of the experiment to emphasize its effect. It is intended to make the visitors feel shocked and challenged, enough to have a fresh and open mind before visiting the next gallery.

The visitor then reaches the main gallery of Determinism where the core philosophy is explained through interactive audio and case studies the undeniable logic of the theory based on previously experienced scientific facts. This is the central gallery in the narrative.

After the visitor sees determinism in it’s full form, they start exploring their sense of self, by first being shown the

opposing theory of the Compatibilist and then disproving it, by urging the visitors to reflect upon their wants and intentions. The space has interactive audio and reflective surfaces to facilitate such thought. After being introduced to the theory, its opposition, case studies and so on, the visitor may move to the contemplation room, where they are free to sit around in semi private spaces and think about the subject matter before walking towards the conclusion.

Extra reading material will be provided in this space.

In the conclusion area, the first section will talk about the justice system, and the second section talks about what the conclusion is for individuals in their manner of dealing with life. Here, the visitors are to feel liberated before they exit the exhibition.

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3 4

2

1

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Initial Bubble Maps and Sequence Diagrams

3 5 4 1 - Introduction 2 - History 3 - Internal & External Causes of Behaviour 4 - Determinist Area 5 - Lab Experiments 6 - Compatabilist Area 7 - Soul Room 8 - Conclusion - New Moral Ground

5 6 6

7 8

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1 - Introduction 2 - History 3 - Internal & External Causes of Behaviour 4 - Lab Experiments 5 - Determinist Area 6 - Compatabilist Area 7 - Contemplation area 8 - Conclusion - New Moral Ground

1 2 3

7 8 6

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5 Final Bubble Map and Sequence Diagram 19

Final Concept - Invisible Prisons

Concept Note The underlying theme of the Exhibition is Invisible prisons.

The most convincing aspect of the philosophy of Determinism is the physical one – the micro neurological structure of our brains and how this affects our behavior. Added to that, the role of luck and chance.

Audio-visual media will deal with the content, but the space will be synesthetic. The space and exhibits will be abstract representations of the ‘Invisible Imprisonment’ and the randomness of luck.

The colors are solid and contrasting. The space is, however, dominated, by black and white. The primary concern is to make people feel like they can sit and think and contemplate in the space, but at the same time, feel challenged.

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THE CAUSAL STREAM You Cannot Escape It.

Initial Concepts

WE HAVE NO CONTROL All The World’s a Stage.

OUR VERY OWN PRISON

THE UNCONSCIOUS Just The Tip of the Iceberg.

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Initial Sketches These are the initial sketches for the different Zones of Space in the exhibition. The idea was to focus on the function of the space, and combine the four initial concepts as the underlying theme. However a greater abstraction of a specific concept was required. Along with this more thought into how each space would manifest differently in relation to the concept, instead of a standardized space, was required. This is when the iterations of the artistic nature began.

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The Second Iteration Here the idea was to express the concept of “Invisible Prisons� in an abstract way through out the exhibition. It was mostly an exercise in composition of the physical elements I thought were relevant to the subject and concept within the space. However the aesthetic and function of all the different zones were still to standard and non-specific. Further clarity for each space was required, along with the removal of some unnecessary elements from the space.

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Final Visualizations After further exploring the function and intent of each zone, the space was designed in a more specific, yet abstract manner.

Along with this, the movement in the exhibition and a specific zone was changed (as we see in the Final Bubble Map). Here, while the space is still abstract with a uniform language, the communication strategy for each zone was dealt with in a more wholesome way. The final outcome changed the narrative to a certain degree and resulted in the final one. Here, installations and micro experiences were looked at more specifically.

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Introduction Space The introduction space is a neutral space, which gives a general sense of the rest of the exhibition. It is a simple static space and gives a brief introduction and insight into the history of the subject.

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Internal and External Causes of Behaviour This gallery explains the internal (genes, brain etcetera) and external (environment, childhood etcetera) causes of behavior. Here the space shows a dynamic pressure from two sides, (as with the two aspects that affect our behavior) with panels on either side of the passage. The visitor will view these graphic panels and screens as they walk through.

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Lab Experiments At the end of the passage the visitor walks into the lab, which is a clinical caged space where a version of the Benjamin Libet experiment will be conducted to shock and prepare the audience for the Determinist gallery. This space will also have graphic panels to show previous statistics.

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Determinist Gallery This an abstract manifestation of the elements relevant to the space, like transparent poles, stripes, and other shapes, to communicate the concept of the invisible prisons most prominently, in the most significant gallery.

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Contemplation Room In the contemplation room, the elements are composed to create a private space for all the visitors. The furniture follows the language of the previous three galleries to provoke thought and contemplation on the matter so far. This gallery is at a higher level to make the audience feel like this is the time to have an overview.

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Self Reflection Room The next gallery is to be plain from the outside, not attracting much attention. On the inside, the content, mostly audio, questions the sense of self and this is shown through the grey patches of confusion and reflective surfaces.

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Conclusion Area - I After contemplation, in the first section of the conclusion, the space reflects, subtly, the problems with the justice system and how it can be improved. This is shown through case studies on panels and in audio. The space also tries to create a sense of empathy and awareness.

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Conclusion Area - II In the final section, the audience is to feel liberated and free after being spoken to about personal conclusions one must draw through determinism. It speaks about having the ability to change at any point in life and having less of a personal burden.

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Acknowledgements Guide | Mayank Loonker

Feedback | Prahlad Gopakumar, Jonak Das

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