How can we shift identity by changing ours and others' perspective?
Will it change the way we connect to each other?

Idea

MASK is inspired by different communication difficulties, and addresses on distance, isolation, social anxiety, and nonverbal communications.

For people who identify with, MASK can be a light-hearted way to review and adjust self.

For people who don't identify with, MASK is way to "stand in someone's shoes". By immersing self in a foreign mindset, people undergo things they've never thought before, thus know each other more.

Description

Using mobile phones, Google Cardboard, Arduino, customized bio-sensors, and handmade masks, MASK explores identity through experiences in both the virtual and real world. Users can interact with the people that inhabit both worlds to overcome social anxiety, distance, and isolation.

Masksss

With the House MASK, a user can see the world through the windows of a virtual house, one of which is a web live stream of their own home.

Inside Hive, a honeycomb mask, users virtually work, live, and share as a community with other “Hive” users.

Puppet, a piggyback mask socializes for users in the real world, while letting users escape into a virtual world.

Under Duet, a mask for two people, with muscle sensors attached on face, users communicate each other with smiles.

Personal Statement

I always kind of have a feeling that “Hmm I love mask”, and after reviewing my projects over the past 1.5 years in ITP, I found that I do love masks. I think that’s because of my introversion-inclined personality. Mask hides the face and shelters me from judgement and crowds, and it helps me changing my identity and enhance my imagination, so I can calmly stay in the environment, and interact with others.

If I want to maximize the effect of masks, what can I do with accessible technology? How can I shift identity by changing my and also others perspective? Will I be even more anti-social or sociable because I can find inner peace easily? Can a mask not only be a prop but also act as a catalyst to daily life? And what’s other people’s reactions to the enhanced version of mask? Will it create unusual crowd behaviors if people wear them in public? Those are the questions that make me want to do this project.

Presentation Video