KONSTANTIA KOULIDOU
Organ Donation
According to the research question, our group was supposed to provoke reflection about peoples 'greedy' or 'charitable' purchasing behaviour using a vending machine. Particularly in the shoowroom approach, we focus on the responses of people when they are exposed to these contrasting terms. When thinking about vending machines in a broader sense, they are a metaphor for the prevailing consumerism culture in these days: they betray people to 'waste' their money on things they probably don't need. While this could be a strong indicator for greed, it offers a good foundation to trigger provoking thoughts on the issue of charity.
In our interpretation of the task, depending on the intended outcome, we were free to choose whether we tackle 'greed', 'charity' or both. While working on one of these topics lead to more focused discussion in one direction, tackling with both enables people to reflect on the 'whole'.
Research question
The aim of the project was to question the way in which people see and experience the material world and provoke change through debate.
Building the prototype
To express the idea of the Organ Donation we made a prototype that would resemble a real vending machine, emphasizing the part where the organs would be displayed. The sides of the vending machine are covered with a logo, giving food for thought as the initial letters form the words “MEAT” (Monetary Effective Anatomy Transplant) and “GOD” (Generic Organ Donor).
To reinforce the reflections about the organ donation we made an Augmented Reality application, where videos give the background information of the organ selected. The camera hangs from the top of the machine and can be manipulated by the user to see the story and price of the organs. When the camera is pointed at the barcode, the video appears on the screen. A mirror above the screen was placed to make people reflect on how they feel about buying an organ and being exposed to their position as a buyer or a donor.
Exhibition
Data collection and analysis
Visitors of the exhibition were videotaped and given the chance to leave their reactions and comments on cards. We also conducted informal interviews of some of the visitors who were interested in going more in depth about their views and opinions on the various issues. Generally visitors were emotionally affected by the display and reacted how we initially intended and expected. While the machine did not overly promote charity it was an underlying motif of the project and many visitors were heard asking each other if they were organ donors. Those that were, proudly answer “I am”.The videos also provided implications for the overall design of the showroom and machine. We found, through observation, that visitors were distracted by the glitches of the videos. It was difficult, at times, to focus on the topic when the video cut in and out, thus the related discussions were not as deep as they could have been since the interaction with the machine was too great. Some visitors also did not make the connection between the photos and the machine right away but thought that the videos and the “real organs were really good and engaging”.
project by_
Jonas Leonas, Enrique Encinas, Konstantia Koulidou, Foteini Chalkia,Daniel Egerer, Maren Nelson-Burk