Penny Pinching Isn't Personal

About

Experience this piece with a friend; if you are here alone, now is the chance to meet some people! Come back when you have a second person.

The goal of “Penny Pinching Isn’t Personal” is to change the narrative on community + technology. Right now, many of us are struggling due to job market shifts, the economy, AI, etc.; and the divide regarding various technological ideologies is only tearing the sense of community and security even more. Let’s change that for a moment.

To begin, each person will put on one pair of headphones. Person 1 will then use the tweezers to “pinch” one of the hanging pennies, which will change the scene that is on the screen. Pick any of them to start.

Next, Person 1 and Person 2 will each take and hold (or “pinch”) the penny in the heart shaped bowl between your fingers. With each of your other free hands, touch each other’s pointer fingers and see what happens on the screen, as well as in your ears. Next, try a high five, then interlocking a few fingers; notice how they all generate different types of colors, patterns, and sounds. That is the unique force between you two beautiful humans!

The goal will be to keep the flow of touch to uncover what image lies beneath. Keep testing different touch patterns (tapping, squeezing, gliding etc.; whatever feels right or fun) until you find the right “touch position” that reveals the image with the least distortion. 

Each penny reveals a new image and sound experience, so feel free to try again with each of the pennies to see what you can uncover. Penny pinching isn’t personal, but community is.