Fear Lab 2'33''
Creating and Measuring Fear
Fear Lab 2'33' is an immersive performance experiment involving 5 designers (performers) and 30 audience members on the theme of creating and measuring fear. The experiment aims to design multi-sensory experiments to evoke emotions and influence people's understanding of space. The final performance takes place on 6 March 2023 at PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory, UCL)
Based on the game of rubber band bouncing, in which both parties involved in the game are able to feel the tension of fear. At the same time, we tried to use the experience to lead the audience to think about the emotional value of fear from a positive perspective.
So we designed a rubber band interactive experimental performance to create and measure fear. In this experiment the designers (performers) initiated the experiment and the audience participated and served as the subjects.
All the audience present were potential subjects, and performers would randomly select one audience as the subject. All audience were asked to put on masks and not to move until ordered to do so. When an audience was selected, the wandering flash would stop at her/his face.
At the same time, performers would keep pulling the rubber bands. At the end, the rubber band would be bounced back.
The audience was brought into the spotlight and performers put on experimental equipment for her/him. It is capable of playing a real-time sound of her/his heartbeat.
Heartbeat Player Device and rubber bands equipments
Lights design
The spotlight is a fixed light source, it is the visual center of all people, and it can focus all people's eyes on the experimental subject.
Flashlights flicker and sweep over each audience while looking for test subjects. As a dynamic source of light, the flashlight heightens fear and tension, like a scrutinizing gaze of each other.
The spotlight is a fixed light source, it is the visual center of all people, and it can focus all people's eyes on the experimental subject.
Clothing & Accessories
Blurring identity information Creating secretive peeps
Visual language Suggesting the environment, actions and identity
Blurring identity information Creating secretive peeps
Sounds design
Create tension Stimulate senses Measuring fear Guide performance actions as a signal
Create tension Stimulate senses Measuring fear Guide performance actions as a signal
Storyline board
Team collaboration
Yaohan Zhang
Hui Zhang
Jieh-ming Huang
Soojin Heo
Yongyi Yang
