Rui Lu
HELLO, MOM
Living far away from home, the only connection between my mom and me is through the internet. Especially nowadays, after building up my life trans-Atlantic, it seems the only way we show each other care is by staring at the screen and waiting for each other’s responses in different time zones. However, instead of the ‘love’ and ‘care’ I desired to receive, I got more blaming and lecturing from all her responses to my daily life. Although I could realize the layers behind all the hurtful messages, the frustration was still building up through all those replies. The project is about the lack of belongings and the failure of expectations when dealing with parents. Not only talking about the longings, to be seen by family members but loved ones in general. The combination of two parts in this project --the publication and chatbot, is to reveal communication from two opposite attitudes. I would like to use chatting as a starting point from my perspective to open the conversation on this phenomenon, challenge the audience to reconsider interpersonal communication. In addition, giving recognition to those who have similar experiences.
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Finding Asian Elephant
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I was on the journey to find the most significant animal in Cologne Zoo, the Asian Elephant. However, everything changed when you no longer a kid in the zoo. Re-observing the whole environment, much more critiques and thoughts came to me. In a dilemma with the relationship between zoo and me, the complicated feelings build up more and more when I stepped into this modern jungle we create for animals.
Am I able to find them, the Asian elephant in my mind?
