So, now we're on to our final project, a project where we're expected to create an
experience. I don't want to change my defining word, so that means I have to create an experience that generates the sense of austerity. Given that I've already done my past two experiments, then this should be a little bit easier. I really don't want to make extra work for myself, so I'm not going to change my path now, although there is a certain temptation to do Rebellion, as I have the perfect plan for Rebellion...
After the end of the last experience, I realised there was a lot more to the onions than I previously anticipated. I started off with the concept of Austerity being along the lines of the wartime Austerity as in having less and having to make do with much less than normal. However, Austerity is a bit more deep than that. It has two sides, one positive one, and a more negative side. The positivie side actually ends up looking more at intentionally removing material possessions from life, and living a life of minimalism. This is seen a lot in religious circles, as well as increasingly often in the lives of those more well off. This is due to the fact that it is becoming more fashionable to live a life "without clutter".
One of the things that I realised when I conducted my experiment was that breaking the onion open with with her hands actually resulted in a much more visceral experience for Henrietta. She zoned out, and the simplicity of the task resulted in her not having to
think about the task, and just
do the task. Therefore, she was able to really experience the onion as a multi-sensory experience. This meant that the austerity I had designed actually led from a negative austerity through to a positive austerity, an effect that I had not designed, but turned out to be exactly right.
So, looking towards the next project, I need to figure out an experience that could be exhibited and experienced by multiple people. One of the experiences that I came up with first was suited to Rebellion, which, while not ideal, is still an experience that I think I ought to entertain and look at.
The nonsensical and against-the-grain way of chopping the onions would provide a totally different experience to the experience that everyone is used to. Maybe I could also stuff the onions with firecrackers, so that they actually do explode. That would be
awesome. But no, maybe another time.
I think the thing that I realised was the most interesting part about the last experiment would be the ideal experiment for the next section. So, what I think I want to do is basically take away senses from the user to enhance the ultimate experience. However, I don't want to
take them away from the user, as this would be the wrong end of austerity, more in line with oppression. So, I'm going to step back and in stead give the user the
choice to remove the tools for cutting onions and the senses from the experiment. But, I'm going to nicely encourage the user to give the tool-less, sense-minimal experience a try, telling them that the experience is far deeper and far more interesting if they try it that way.
That way, by giving them a choice, they retain control over their austerity(since I'm looking at a self-imposed variant of austerity) and they can decide how far they want to take the experience. I'd merely tell them that if they went all the way, they could have the most interesting and visceral experience.
What I can design in the experience is making sure that all of the components are as minimal as possible, and fulfill their task. I could shape the area around them, remove distractions, and basically ensure the experience they have is the most pure possible.
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