CIRCLE OF BELONGING
The Circle of Belonging is a spatial data visualisation project about cultural identity. This virtual exhibition space explores a growing data collection, highlighting trends about our sense of belonging to a cultural community based on our cultural background and upbringing. The participatory and immersive approach to this project is intended to bring together individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds and encourage the growth of a community, in which the participants feel they belong to.
The immersive experience of this space is intended to bring together individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds and encourage the growth of a community, in which the participants feel they belong to. An interactive survey found in the participation podium allows the audience to create their own circle of belonging. As the participant inputs their data and creates their personal circle, it will be introduced into the space by being projected onto the large front face of the room in real time.
Enjoy the full experience here.
PROCESS
The rules-based Belonging Survey played a key role in the completion of this project. Participants were asked to share the number of countries they had lived in and their sense of belonging towards a cultural community. The 50 responses were used as the base of the growing collective. Each line represents one country lived in. The larger the circle, the greater the sense of belonging towards a cultural community.
Adopting a participatory design approach, my audience became subject to the developmental prototypes and their feedback played a large role in the evolution of the project. Considering visual variables and data organisation factors, the protagonist of this project became the circle. The motivation for this element derives from the Gestalt principles of Closure and Continuation, highlighting the circle's expression of togetherness and community.
