Public space has always offered the opportunity to meet strangers, but while we can physically occupy shared space, our experiences often remain solitary. Especially at this moment in history, the need for contact and dialogue is further frustrated by the political and health climate and the virtual bubbles of sociability created by social media
Are we alone or united in the city? Urban design as a spark of spontaneous interaction
The experience of urban public space should be a response to the human need for relationship. "Dialogue" is the urban furniture designed by designers and artists Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik with the intent to bring back the social function of public urban space: to create shared physical experiences
"Dialogue," a circle of interlaced sound tubes, is a social infrastructure that offers a spark to initiate spontaneous and playful interactions in the form of conversations that vary in length and seriousness and connect individuals in the highly public space of the Eastman Reading Garden
Through simple and small dialogues as well as unexpected moments of connection, we can begin to relate to one another and talk to other community members who may or may not have opposing opinions to us
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