Journeys in Affect Space (2022) is an installation where randomness and choice function together, using emotion maps as a framework.
Thousands of randomly generated cyclic routes in a 3-dimensional conceptual space based on emotions were printed on cards and placed in a box to inspire ideas. Thus, methodologies that were originally developed for content analysis (e.g. emotion classification, crowd-sourced emotion lexicons) were repurposed as spaces of exploration.
Before creating the installation, one of the cards was arbitrarily selected, and the route illustrated on it was used as instructions to be interpreted and carried out. The resulting work consists of various objects, such as 2D and 3D prints, shredded foam, herbal tea, beadworks, elevator weights, glass marbles and pet ID tags, providing a network of relationships in real space. The unused cards that remain in the box are also part of the installation, so that viewers can look through and explore them for any imaginative purpose.
Note: The 3-dimensional affect space was based on the Power-Danger-Structure framework proposed in Ousiometrics and Telegnomics: The essence of meaning conforms to a two-dimensional powerful-weak and dangerous-safe framework with diverse corpora presenting a safety bias as an alternative to the more common Valence-Arousal-Dominance model to conceptualize emotions. Words associated with emotions were derived from the crowdsourced NRC Emotion Lexicons.
Photos: Zeynep Fırat.