Dark Maze

Precedent Studies:

When thinking about what to design for this project we read several articles such as Juhani Pallasmaa's "An Architecture of the Seven Senses," Michel Foucault's "Other Spaces," and Allan Kaprow's "How to Make a Happening."  We then looked at some precedent projects by James Turell, Yayoi Kusama, Snarkitecture, and some other artists and architects.  In particular we focused on their use of light and space.

Process

When we first started brainstorming and iterating we knew that we wanted it to be a spatial experience that played with the idea of light or a lack of it.  We wanted people to focus on all of their senses instead of just sight because people tend to be overreliant on their sense of sight so we had a maze that was in complete darkness.  We found a study room in the basement of Hunt Library that we were able to reserve the date before and the date of our review and then we measured the room to figure out the amount of turns the room could hold.  We then figured out what materials to use and how much we needed.  We decided that we would need ten sheets of three feet by four foot pieces of cardboard.  We then decided to add another layer of meaning onto the project so we decided to make the experience a happening so that the viewers will only experience it once. We decorated the walls with things in life that are important, such as sleep, food, and leisure, as well as social issues like inequality and voting.

The happening: When the people first reach the door to the room they will see a sign on the door telling them that their goal is to reach the end of the maze and hit the big red button that we placed there.  They will blindly navigate their way through the darkness using their other senses until they reach the end of the maze and hit the red button.  As soon as they do this the lights will be turned on.  They will then walk back the same path that they took through the maze, but this time noticing all of the important ideas depicted on the wall.  This serves as a metaphor for the way that many people live their lives.  People often blindly travel through life trying to stick to one path with the hope that there is happiness at the end. However, once you reach the end you realize the things that are the most important in life.