Unspoken Words
Thesis Faculty:
Clarinda Mac Low, Harpreet Sareen, Namreta KumarUnspoken Words is an interactive installation that explores how people express thoughts they usually keep to themselves through symbolic language. The project translates spoken words into emojis, creating a space where personal thoughts can be shared without being directly heard. By converting spoken language into emojis, the project introduces distance between expression and interpretation.
Unspoken Words is an interactive installation that explores how people express thoughts they usually keep to themselves through symbolic language.
In everyday communication, we often turn to symbols, fragments, or indirect language to express what feels difficult to say. This project builds on that idea by translating spoken words into emojis, creating a space where personal thoughts can be shared without being directly heard.
The installation consists of a telephone and a projection screen. Visitors are invited to speak through the telephone, and their words are translated into emoji traces that remain on the screen. Rather than direct communication, the interaction becomes a form of emotional release, allowing thoughts to exist without needing to be fully understood. Within this shared space, personal thoughts and emotions become open to be seen, shared, and interpreted.
The project reflects on the idea that, regardless of language, empathy is always shaped by individual perception. By replacing language by symbols, it asks whether we can ever fully understand each other, and what it feels like to try to understand one another.
