Disconnecting at the dinner table
STORY BY KELSEY LYONS
PHOTOS BY KELSEY LYONS
First-year Furniture student Michael Strong is listening to a dinner conversation while the videotape is projected on to the table.
Ceramic Design students Queenie Xu and Jordan Scott try out the texting table at the exhibit.
Here’s some food for thought: The world today revolves around technology and it’s creating a disconnect between people. This was the main idea of an exhibit last week at the Trafalgar Campus.
Last Thursday, The Gallery in the AA Wing presented the Food for Thought exhibit featuring the works by students in Craft and Design which includes the Ceramics, Glass, Furniture, Industrial Design and Textiles programs.
The students were put into groups of 10 back in January and were told to consider all food-related topics.
“They took this topic and they had the chance to create whatever they wanted,” said Lynne Murray, coordinator of The Gallery. “They stepped out of their comfort zones and they worked together as a team.”
Ten projects were displayed in the gallery and they were a mixture of videos, sounds, smells and interactive pieces.
Jared Lawee, a second-year Furniture Design and Craft student, along with his group members from other sections needed to come up with an idea.
“We’re a group of 10 or so and we needed to accommodate that,” he said. “So we decided to have a communal dinner.”
They made plates, cups and cutlery out of textile materials and set them up on a dining table.
Lawee’s group called their display A bird’s Eye View.
The group sat down for a meal and had a microphone record their conversations, and they videotaped it.
The video was projected onto the dining table displayed in the gallery.
The group provided headphones so people could sit down and watch the group interact at the table through the video while listening to their dinner conversation.
“While listening to the recording and watching the video display on the table you really immerse yourself into this experience,” said Lawee.
The group decided not to script the conversation.
“We didn’t want to script it because it took away from the dinner,” explained Lawee. “It wouldn’t have been natural.”
Lawee’s group showed how the sharing of food brings us together.
But what happens when we bring cellphones to the table?
There is always someone texting or “facebooking” at the table and they’re cutting themselves off from the people they’re sharing a meal with.
Weighing in on Texting at the Table, is a display that represents this.
This was put together by a group of students, one being Michelle Bosveld, a Glass Design student.
The table was set for two people to sit across from one other and there were curtains separating the two.
There was a slot on both sides to put your phone in and when you did so the curtain would open and you could see each other.
“The main idea was having two people having dinner together with a barrier in between,” said Bosveld.
When one person picks up their phone to send a text message the curtain closes.
“I’m picking up my phone and I am disconnecting,” said Bosveld. “This is showing how technology is interrupting our ability to communicate with one another.”
