You are Here : An Exploration into the Collective Effervescence of Awe through the Design of an Interactive Installation

It can be argued that we spend more time distracted than we do being present in the world. The phenomena of awe and collective effervescence can be hypothesized as a pathway to bringing us back into the present moment. Interactive installations may act as a medium for this phenomenon to arise. However, designing for awe and collective effervescence for interactive installations is limited. The installation You are Here is an interactive installation developed and made to foster social connection and awe through collective effervescence. Through this, I identified the importance of bold feedback, collective play, convergent focused attention, layers of curiosity and discovery, and the facilitation of the moment, in facilitating awe and collective effervescence. This paper provides a framework and serves as an example of how we as researchers and designers could incorporate awe and collective effervescence within the context of interactive installations.