Seattle Design Festival: an Interactive Public Installation
Two days on Occidental Square hearing from Seattlelites how they think and feel about homelessness in their city.
At the onset of this project, the unhoused population of Seattle was climbing year-on-year. Yet, when Richelle Dumond and I looked at our community, we saw a need for more public discourse around solutions and equity. When Design in Public called for installation proposals around the theme of Design Change…
We pointed our design chops at provoking conversations around equity, ownership, and how to make meaningful change.
Our two-lady design-built installation housed three interactions. It drew passersby in with an interactive screen that dynamically displayed the story of the Seattle City Council’s actions on homelessness as the visitor walked closer. It prompted them to reflect on their most treasured possessions. Last, people could choose information to take away about how to get involved in making change.
The unintentional consequences of design often affect our communities in disproportionate and inequitable ways.
We think design is by nature a political act. It is not neutral and we don’t strive to be in what we make. This installation wasn’t designed to solve homelessness, or even to generate ideas about how to solve it. It was designed to show up-to-date information about the actions of powerful decision-makers—and the impacts of their work—to inspire individual action.