“DICEN” - THEY SAY

What can we get of online intense debates about political and provocative topics in social media? Sometimes our source of information is an echo of voices that don’t guarantee veracity. How can we work with a scenario with all this noise?
Does expressing our opinions online make any difference in the offline world? Why can’t we just hold back our thoughts? What do we accomplish when we enter into this online fighting loop?

When a discussion is really emotional and touches you, sometimes is very difficult to be rational and think on the consequences of your comments; but, could you really be quiet and not give your opinion? Could you be truly calm in a context that you feel you need to say something; because what the others are saying is maybe wrong, misleading, nonsense, false?

“They say”, sometimes is the way of receiving information in some countries, other times is the way we spread gossips and unverified news; but also, can be the action of reading all the comments that you can find on a topic from social medial that triggered many strong reactions.

“The say” comments could take also another level of perception if you are living abroad, these comments, sometimes could become your way of being connected with certain topics of your home country, however, you don’t always know how to react towards these comments. Some questions arise as a person watching from the distance, what is true? What is not? Do I have the right to bring my opinion if I am not present in the country? Who do I believe? Which side am I taking?

Political, social and health crisis that societies have to undergo provoke in people a lot of stress, trauma, frustrations, and sometimes these emotions combined with the necessity of expressing what we think on social media, could create  intense arguments if people disagree on their points of views.

Would you interact and debate online to cause reactions on others?

Or would you only prefer to watch from the distance?

“They say” started as an interactive installation „DICEN“ at the Exhibition Human by Machine at the Museum of applied Arts Vienna (MAK), part of the EU program INTERREG V-A Slovakia–Austria.

Collaborator: Andreas Rohner - Programming

Thanks to: Lukas Weithas, Magdalena Hubauer, David Grüner, Janiel Kovatsch, Xochitl Gaitan, Eylem Ertuk, Pavel Naydenov, Luc Härle, Fernanda Reyes