NICOLE, howtoexperienceyouremotions (2019)
NICOLE, howtoexperienceyouremotions, 2019. Instagram Profile and AR filter, 31 videos, 1080×1350 px, less than 1 minute each
NICOLE is an android who comes from a dystopian world in which emotions are banned and forgotten. Being part of the Resistance, they have an Instagram profile – a social media that in their reality is obsolete and outdated - that is used to secretly teach humans how to re-experience and express lost emotions. Through an Instagram system failure, my team and I discovered the profile where NICOLE tries to reactivate emotions by stimulating them through body positions, repeated actions, short workouts, and physical expressions - such as a smile - rather than vice versa, as we would normally expect. In their activist profile, we can find an AR Filter, 31 videos divided into 6 basic emotions1 and the descriptions of the workouts.
In today’s context, NICOLE represents an enigmatic invitation to question the everyday use of social media as means of translating emotions and an exploration of the inextricably intertwined boundary that separates emotions from their expressions.
INSTAGRAM PROFILE ︎ MANIFESTO︎︎︎
1. Ekman, P., 2007. Emotions revealed. New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Co. – Ekman, P. and Friesen, W., 2003. Unmasking the face. Cambridge (Mass.): Prentice-Hall.
NICOLE’s Instagram profile was discovered and further studied in collaboration with the following team members:
Giorgio Rodinò: Study of costume and environment ︎︎︎
Katayoon Gholizadegan: Costume Study ︎︎︎
Gabriele Perugini: Study of Gestures and Actions ︎︎︎
Thanks to Haoyu Zou