The caveat is that there are only two buttons: record and play. Pushing play will output the last message recorded. Pushing record automatically erases the previous message.
These specificities allow for an investigation into impermanence, as well as a feeling of familiarity among the people who receive and send a single message.
PROCESS
Civil Inattention is a phenomenon whereby strangers in close proximity to one another show that they are aware of and respect one another's space but have no intention to interact beyond that.
The project started off as a series of observations. What stood out to me at first was how commuters on the Metro ignored each other and would sit as far away from strangers as the seating arrangements would allow. It was for this reason that I researched why people behave this day, and came across the idea of "civil inattention," a term I wasn't aware of. For our first interaction, I made signs that said "Metro Friend Zone" on the seats. What interested me from this interaction the most, I noticed, is just how I was able to break up the monotony of people's days, to offer a possibility to interact with strangers when they otherwise wouldn't want to.