Hand Me Down (2025)
Today, in the age of the internet, we have access to endless information and constant connection. Our lives unfold publicly, often leaving little space for vulnerability or slowness. Privacy becomes rare, and intimacy, more difficult to hold onto.
This noise is hard to escape. But, rather than resist it entirely, perhaps we can find refuge within it. A quiet corner in the chaos to curl up in, where meaning still lingers.
Hand Me Down seeks to create that space: a smaller, slower place within the larger digital din. A space with its own rhythm of exchange, where each participant can both share and listen. The noise remains, but within it, we search for connection, threaded gently between memories.
Hand Me Down: Send
Participants are invited to reflect on what they’ve learned from the people around them and the spaces they’ve moved through. Using the cushion interface, they can select from a series of prompts, then leave an audio message.
Hand Me Down: Receive
Participants can then use the knitted interface to enter the space and listen to messages left by others. To begin, they put on the headphones and press their finger firmly onto the knitted fabric.
Imagine the square of fabric as a room. By touching a specific point, you are placing yourself at that position within the room. At each corner of this room, a different voice speaks: individuals who have previously left messages, now sharing them with you.
As you move your finger across the surface, you navigate through the space. Spatial audio allows the voices to shift and surround you, creating an intimate experience of listening, memory, and connection through touch and sound.
Materials
Hand Me Down: Send
- Raspberry Pi- MPR121 Capacitive Touch Sensor
- LCD Screen
- Silk
- Metal buttons
- Conductive Thread
Hand Me Down: Receive
- Raspberry Pi- MPR121 Capacitive Touch Sensor
- Headphones
- Conductive thread
- Lambswool
- Wood