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The Changing Room by Lauren McCarthy and Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

Causing an emotion

Brisbane – The Changing Room is a new interactive exhibition that imagines the future of the smart home as a place that engages with inhabitants’ emotions.

The exhibition was created by artist Lauren McCarthy at Queensland University of Technology
Designed to simultaneously invade and nurture the emotions of the inhabitant

The exhibition takes a critical approach to the future role of sentient technology in the home, examining how technology can respond intelligently to users’ emotional needs as well as addressing issues such as the potential invasion of privacy.

On entering the exhibition space, guests are confronted by the question ‘Do you want to feel?’ and are invited to choose from one of numerous emotions. The Changing Room then uses a combination of light, visuals, sound and text to evoke that particular emotion in the crowd.

The space is divided into six connected zones, split over two levels, each of which is linked to a central software application built in the game development platform Unity. Using a series of microphones, cameras and sensors the software analyses visitors’ reactions and directs them around the space.

The Big Picture

In the vein of The E-motional Economy, consumers are looking for technology that they can engage with emotionally as well as on a practical level. But as we connect more deeply with artificial intelligence, allowing it into our inner circle, it opens up issues about privacy and the possibility of nefarious hackers.