My first intervention was in the classroom during the intervention showcase. When it was my turn to share, I got up and wrote Humans on the board. I explained that for my project, I wanted to ask random people to give me a word and tell me whether that word represents something that is political or apolitical. One word that had stumped me was “Humans”. Members of the classroom began to ask on the nature of the question. Does “humans” refers to a group of people or an individual? Can we truly say that anything is inherently political or are politics just a phenomenon that occurs? Regardless of what the consensus was in the end, I believe these are important questions to be asking in a world that has become so polarized due to politics.

I wanted to run the intervention again, this time in a smaller group with people who knew each other better. Over the weekend I was meeting a few friends for lunch so I decided to ask them the same question and see if they took the conversation in a different direction than the previous group. After presenting the prompt, my friends took the question as whether a person can live in a way that is unbothered by politics in the current era and what their life would have to look like to accomplish this. Concluding a long conversation, the answer was ultimately no. Even if a person is completely remote, self-sustained, and devoid of any contact with humans or human-made devices the fact that other people in the world can impact their standards of living through environmental impact or invasion means a living person cannot be completely separate from politics.

This project was inspired by Uncle Roy All Around You by Blast Theory and Paper Tiger TV as the goal of the intervention is to get people to ask thought provoking questions in settings that they normally wouldn’t. However, where Paper Tiger TV sought to teach the value of counterculture having a voice, my project is about showcasing the divide between two equal large and increasingly polarizing senses of culture by demonstrating how permeating and inescapable the differences are in our everyday lives. This is similar to Blast Theory’s project as it asks each participate to evaluate their disposition towards strangers but in a political sense as opposed to trust wise.

Photo taken during the second intervention. Permission to post granted shortly after.

Intention & Influence

Intention: 

We often make decisions in our lives, and often, they are influenced by other people’s thoughts and decisions. Sometimes, without even realizing it. This artwork’s purpose was to intervene in a public space to make people more aware of their decisions and how it may be impacted by others. Societal pressure and influence can sometimes make people make bad decisions or not think rationally. Unfortunately, I was one of those, what you call, sheep for a large majority of my life thus far because I wanted to fit in. I remember specifically this one friend that I had. Whenever she got into a fight with someone, I would take her side because I didn’t want to lose her, even if she was in the wrong. I snuck around and stole things with her. I lost people who really cared about me because of her influence. Then, after she left, I attached myself to other people like a parasite and agreed to whatever they said. When I couldn’t do that anymore, I began to agree to whatever the majority did. You must go to college, otherwise you’re a failure. You can’t wear this because it makes you look fat. You can’t do this, you must do this, do that. Eventually, it takes over your life. Now, as I’ve grown, I learned to have my own individuality and through this artwork, I wanted people to think about their decisions and how they may be influenced by others, to be more conscious of it. Nevertheless, no one is truly individual as we live in a society that influences all our thoughts, morals, and individuality. 

Influence:

Like my other pieces, this artwork was influenced a lot by me and my own personal experience. I’ve already mentioned that above in my Intention category so I won’t mention that in this section. Another influence comes from the guest presenters we had in class and their lecture on “Tactical Media”. Tactical media is interventions in a public space that challenges social norms and disrupts ‘normalcy’. That was essentially what our piece had to be. So, I took inspiration from one of their numerous examples of interventions. The one that stood out to me the most was the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO). I thought BLO was funny, almost like it was a prank. The BLO altered Barbie  and G.I Joe toys’ voice boxes so that they would be swapped. The G.I Joe toys would have the Barbie voice and lines while Barbie would have G.I Joe’s. It was goofy, as we know that isn’t their voice, but it still tackled what was the social norm back then, which were gender roles. The person who created BLO was Igor Vamos, and he created it in response to the voice lines the new Barbie at that time would say, such as “Math is hard.” With this intervention, BLO successfully invaded children’s homes in a harmless way, helping to break those gender norms/stereotypes or make parents and children alike to think about the impact of these norms. Similarly, I tried to make it fun, a little ridiculous, and it was like a prank, however at the end of it all, they would think about it and be proud they didn’t change their mind, while those who did acknowledged it. I was also inspired by C.Carr’s On Edge, which we read a little bit about. When reading On Edge, what I took from it was that art should explore discomfort and address the harder questions. That’s what makes art so thought provoking and meaningful, is when it breaks into what is normal, this little box that people are in, and tear down that box to expose them to the difficult topics that you just usually don’t think about. It’s uncomfortable to hear that you just fell to peer pressure or the influence of others and puts you in a position where you have to confront your decision making process and biases.

The famous BLO intervention put on display.

A poster for the BLO intervention.

Process

This artwork was one of the more difficult ones. I thought about three to four different ideas and was never satisfied because I felt like it didn’t really hit me like the other three artworks did, hence why this was the last one I completed. I was uninspired. During the time of this artwork, it was the 2024 election between Kamala and Donald Trump. This election was also the first time I would’ve been able to vote, so I did a lot of research and found myself very passionate about politics and who would become our president. So, I wanted to create an artwork that was somewhat based on politics. However, that was a sensitive subject and despite all the research I did, I still felt unprepared and uneducated to be talking or making my artwork based on politics. Then, there was the iteration where I tried to make it about censorship (that was my first pitch), but I also didn’t feel too strongly about it because it wasn’t something personal to my life and thus far, all my work has been something significant in my personal life. It wasn’t until my friend had mentioned that similarity contest that it inspired me to make this artwork. It’s not my best one because of time constraints (I couldn’t walk around to random people as much as I wanted and couldn’t get clips) and other issues I was going through, but I think it wasn’t bad. The results were also something I definitely did not expect, in the best way.

Playtests/Results

So, here were a few of the runs I had and the results! I tested around 10 people, with 4 people being in person and 6 people were online. Before that, I will tell you how this experiment worked. Firstly, I would tell them that this was an assignment for my art class and that I wanted their opinion. If they said sure, I would present them with an original color and two other colors, A and B. I would then ask them which out of the two colors, A and B, more accurately match the shade of the original color. Upon letting them answer which one they think it is, I let them know that the opposite letter they chose was chosen by a majority of people and if they were sure of their answer. They are then given a choice to change their answer. What the testers don’t know is that the colors are all the same and there is no difference so there is no right answer.

EXAMPLE

Original Color:

A:

B:

Me: Which one more likely matches the shade of the original color?

Tester: B

Me: Oh really? A majority of people chose A, are you sure you want to stick with your answer?

Tester: Yes/No

IMPROVEMENTS

I think I should’ve had more in person experiments. I know that this piece isn’t technically for research but rather just for more people to think about their relationship with peer pressure and autonomy, however I would’ve liked to see a more diverse peoples to enact the intervention on to see how they react. Furthermore, I realized that my piece wasn’t the best for those who are colorblind. Instead, I should have used an intricate symbol or drawing. I also wish I had more documentation for this artwork.

IN PERSON RESULTS

Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the people in person, but I enacted this intervention in the orange line in the evening. I chose this specific time as it was a Friday night and I wanted to document all sorts of people, whether they were people getting out of work or students going to parties. Two of the in person tests were students going home from a party and the other two were working adults, with one participant being an older woman in her 50s. The two students stayed with their vote, regardless of when I mentioned that the majority of people I asked chose the other color while the older working adults shrugged and said the opposite color instead. I thought this was very interesting. When I told them the point of the experiment, they all laughed or realized and would say “that made sense.”

ONLINE RESULTS

In comparison, the majority of people who got asked online actually stayed with their answers without changing them which I thought was pretty cool. I asked one older man who was in his late 30s, one who is currently in middle school and is 12 years old, and four other people who are around my age. When I told them the point of the experiment, they also laughed it off, as though it was a prank.

Me introducing the test to a tester.

My little sister’s reaction once it was revealed. I thought it was funny, hahaha.

When one of the tester’s let me know what was lacking…

Just a reaction to the test since the colors were the same.

Another tester and their reaction even after I revealed that the majority of people chose the other color.

The twelve year old tester’s decision and chose not to change it.

A group of testers’ decisions. Pink is me. This was an interesting test as they were each trying to convince each other it was the other, but no one was convinced, even after I introduced the majority of people chose a certain color.

OVERALL

Overall, I think there are many factors that come into play when someone is affected by societal pressure or not, from their background, to the anonymity, to age, location, etc. However, I thought this was a fun experiment as I saw or listened to all their different reactions. It also made me… feel a little more positively towards this problem that I thought heavily influenced us as from the couple people I asked, a lot of them stayed true to their answer. Perhaps some of us are healing. 

Botany Manor project

–aims to heal people by generating imaginary plants nurtured by tears (rain) and rage (heat) around campus.

(concept & drawings)

Trigger Warning : Mentions of Sexual Assault (SA), the SA of Minors, and Child Sexual Material

Artwork Idea & Description :

For my intervention artwork, the industry/issue I wanted to intervene in was the manga industry in Japan. This presented many challenges I would have to try to overcome, but I chose this topic because it’s one I genuinely care about and would love to be able to better. In Japan, the manga industry is almost comically awful, and an excellent example of the evil that can be perpetuated when the only thing being considered is money. Japanese mangaka (manga artists) work absolutely brutal hours well in excess of 100 hours a week, demolishing their health in service of their art and their company. Sometimes, these same mangaka commit crimes ranging from the SA to having terabytes of child sexual abuse material. While of course it’s not all of them, there are a handful of high profile cases just with Shonen Jump, and every time as soon as the convicted predators serve their sentence, they are welcomed back with open arms, an especially worrying standard considering the magazine is expressly (at least in part) targeted at children.

With this issue plaguing an industry I love, I was inspired by the MyCelia Barbie done by the Yes Men. I liked the format and the humor it allowed for as well as how directly and explicitly it pointed towards an actionable plausible solution. Instead of suggesting that Mattel go green via mushroom barbies, I wanted to suggest that Shueisha (the largest manga publishing company) start caring about it’s employees and taking measures to both limit the suffering they endure and the suffering they inflict.

Artwork Execution & Challenges :

I created a fake Shueisha Website with a satirical company announcement describing how they were going to start caring abut their employees. I leaned heavily into the satire in an attempt to heed the advice of my peers and professor and protect myself from any potential legal trouble. I made the site with WordPress, and below you can see a comparison of the sites.

Fake Website I Made: https://shueishacom.wordpress.com/?_gl=1%2A1ho68ra%2A_gcl_au%2AMTk2NTIyOTkxNi4xNzMzMjYyNjM4

Real Shuiesha Website : https://www.shueisha.co.jp/en/

The first image at the top of my post is a sliding gallery of Shueisha manga double page color spreads. This is distinct from the real Shueisha website, which has a bunch of images filling the whole screen horizontally and also sliding right to left. WordPress did not have the ability to recreate this feature, so I did the best I could. Besides that, thankfully, the official Shueisha website is very barebones which made parts of it easy to copy. The top of my fake website should say “Shueisha” but that’s a premium feature I have to pay for. Beyond the technical limitations of the software I was using, I think I did a good job of copying the basic elements of the Shueisha websites, and with more time (and maybe a WordPress Subscription) I think I could make it look identical.

For the actual content of the article, I tried to be both highly satirical (to make it somewhat clear this wasn’t real) and still bring up real issues and real stats with those issues (with how long mangaka are overworked for example). I did this to, just as the Yes Men, make it clear the problem is real and affecting people, and that the solution is needed, possible, but distinctly fake highlighting how the company is willfully just not doing it.

To spread the article, I ran into some issues. I don’t speak Japanese, but I could translate the entire article fairly easily. However, I would have no way of telling how off or fake the translation would sound, and it might hurt the meaning of what I wrote. In terms of location, I was also unsure, as I needed some way to spread this fake message but don’t have many distribution channels. I decided to post the article to reddit, but unfortunately, the one SubReddit with the largest amount of people that would be interested in my message (r/manga) doesn’t have a meme or shitpost or some other “not serious” flair to make it clear that this isn’t real. Additionally, despite my site having text on it, when I link it in reddit, it’s blank for some reason. Nevertheless, that’s where I posted it, and I hope at the very least a few people end up reading it and find it funny and “real” (speaking to a real issue) and it doesn’t get taken down.

Reddit Post :

Artwork Reflection :

I really liked my idea for this post, but I recognize the issues that arose with execution. Creating a website proved more difficult than I thought as my progress and vision for what the website was supposed to look like was stymied by the limitations of the software I was using, both technical (some features where just not available) and monetary (some where paywalled). If I had to do this again, I *might* choose WordPress again, but this time make extensive use of CSS to code the specific more complex parts of the website I wanted. That way, the site would look much much closer to how the real website looks.

Additionally, I recognize my distribution could have improved. If I had to repeat this, I would make a new reddit account, be active in various larger and smaller manga subreddits for at least a month, then contact the moderators and let them know what I am trying to do. With moderator approval, I could make the post, ensure it wouldn’t, get taken down, and raise more awareness/engagement. In terms of reaching out to more Japanese people, I would try to find a more reliable way to translate what I wrote (either a better service or try to find someone that speaks Japanese) and also more extensively research Japanese internet culture so I could essentially find the Japanese version of reddit and post it there for more engagement and more raised awareness.

This conveys the intensity and determination of the game while maintaining its focus on accessibility and teamwork

.

Objective

Players form two teams of two (2v2). The goal is to eliminate all opponents by reducing their health to zero or to gain strategic control of the board through power-ups, positioning, and teamwork.

Setup

Players: 4 players, split into two teams of two.

Health: Each player starts with 3 health points.

Starting Positions: Players randomly begin at one of the S tiles in the four corners.

Hand Cards: Each player starts with:

1 Attack Card (+1 to +3 attack points, randomized).

1 Defense Card (+1 to +3 defense points, randomized).

Board Elements:

Teleport Point (T): Allows players to teleport to any unoccupied tile.

Power-Up Tiles (?): Grants a random power-up card upon landing.

Card Tiles (C): Grants a random attack or defense card.

Obstacles (X): Tiles that cannot be crossed or landed on.

Gameplay

1. Turn Order

Each player takes turns rolling a six-sided dice and moves according to the result:

1: Move left.

2: Move diagonally forward-left.

3: Move forward.

4: Move diagonally forward-right.

5: Move right.

6: Move backward.

2. Movement Rules

Players must follow the dice direction unless blocked by an obstacle (X) or the board edge.

If a player lands on:

C (Card Tile): Draws a random attack or defense card (up to 3 cards in hand).

? (Power-Up Tile): Draws a random power-up card.

T (Teleport Point): May instantly teleport to any unoccupied tile.

3. Hand Management

Maximum hand size: 3 cards. If a new card is drawn while at the limit, discard one card.

Cards are played during battles or special actions (e.g., traps, debuffs).

4. Combat

Combat occurs when two players are within 1 tile of each other. The attacking player initiates the challenge.

Combat Process:

Both players roll a dice.

Players may play cards to boost attack or defense.

Compare final scores:

Higher score wins; loser loses 1 health.

In case of a tie, neither player takes damage.

Special Cards: Power-ups or traps may influence the combat outcome.

5. Team Strategy

Team members can coordinate movement and support each other in battles.

Players can use the Teleport Point strategically to assist teammates or escape danger.

Victory Conditions

A team loses when both players have 0 health.

Alternatively, victory can be determined by controlling strategic areas (e.g., teleport point or power-up tiles) for a certain number of turns.

Additional Mechanics

Power-Up Cards:

Provide unique abilities such as healing, extra moves, or combat buffs.

Obstacles (X):

Players must navigate around these tiles, creating choke points and strategic paths.

Randomization:

Card draws and dice rolls ensure no two games are the same, balancing strategy with luck.

Game Duration

Estimated playtime: 20-40 minutes, depending on the number of battles and strategic use of cards and teleportation.

Playtest feedback

1. This 2v2 combat game shows promise in teamwork, though excessive RNG overshadows strategic depth. Consider reducing randomness, enhancing strategic elements, and improving pacing for a smoother gameplay experience.
2. It’s a really fun game

Objective

Many students put themselves down and feel depressed when studying, as the stress of exams, projects, and other school-related challenges can make them feel like they are never good enough. As a result, this intervention aims to lift students’ spirits by giving them a chance to take a second out of their day to remember why they are so great.

Location

The location I chose to intervene in was the second and third floors of the Snell Library. Since this location is the main place where people go to study and work, I felt this was where I could reach the most people who would need positive encouragement in their lives.

Process

1. I went to the Snell Library
2. On a floor, I write a message on one of the whiteboards encouraging people who walk by to write one positive quality about themselves
3. I wait to see the responses that I get

Picture of Setup

Responses

Pictures

Some Responses

1. My Smile
2. My Eyes
3. Welcoming
4. Approachableness
5. Talking
6. Tall
7. Funny
8. Music

Observations and Results

Overall I believe that my project was an overall success, as it perfectly encapsulates the thought process of students today. In total, I only got 26 responses out of 2 floors in 9 hours. That is a very small amount of people compared to the amount of people that come in and out of the library during that time. This shows that students are possibly so stressed out about their work that they can’t even take one minute out of their day to simply remember why they love themselves. That is a very depressing notion, and I hope that one day universities can diminish the amount of struggle that students have to go through just to live day to day and focus on giving students a more stress-free lifestyle.

Game Theme

With the rapid development of AI and the rise of AI chat, AI chatting has started to become popular among today’s youth. Recently, there have been increasing incidents where AI has misled young people, drawing them into AI-created virtual worlds that disconnect them from reality, which could ultimately lead to self-harm or even suicide. So, I designed this game to test how long it would take for people in a group chat to realize they are talking to an AI.

Game Detail:

Post in a chat group: “I’m inviting a friend who shares our interests to join.” Then, concealing the group members, let the new friend participate solely through AI-generated responses. Record the overall time taken for them to find out they are talking to AI.

Repeat this in three different groups: Group already about AI, Random online Friend group, Random group of friends who you actually know in reality. 

Test Record

Group 1 existed group speciality to AI & AI supplement

Overall time taken(to find out they are talking to AI): 5 minutes

In fact, you could even say it only took two minutes. When the AI friend joined the chat and got to the fourth message, someone already pointed out that this “friend” seemed really off and jokingly asked if he was “playing an AI for Halloween” (since it was Halloween). By the five-minute mark, four people were already suspicious, so I revealed to everyone that this friend was actually using chat AI to generate responses.

Reaction 1: “He sounded so much like chat AI that I thought it was just part of the act.”

Group 2 random and casual chat group of mine( with my school friends)

Overall time taken: still haven’t find out until now

The results for this reference group were unexpected yet unsurprising. I think it might be because the original group chat itself was already quite casual, with everyone throwing out completely random topics. When the AI was only given the instruction to “keep it chill,” it did so well that people found it hard to notice. Another possibility is that this group doesn’t pay too much attention to online chats, so even if something felt off, they didn’t bring it up.

Group3 random and casual chat group of mine( with my online game friends)

Overall time taken: 1.5 days

Sample dialogue Screenshots

Sample translation(translated into English from original language):

A

Black motorcycle. Ducati’s cool, but it’s red.  

Just don’t go with Harley.  

Trying to keep it classy.  

Which brand of motorcycle do you guys think fits desu?  

To be honest, Ducati feels a bit young for this. The character riding the bike is 35.

B

[image]  

Racing style. If you don’t like it, there are street and retro options too.  

A

Sick. Which model is it?  

But yeah, it might look a bit too young and flashy. 

B

Hold on…

dude, u r up damn early today

C

You need a stylish, high-end motorcycle as a reference for your design, right? Then I will suggest some sleek and high-priced black motorcycles.  

A

Lol, why so formal?  

Got class in a bit. (Reply B)

C 

Harley-Davidson Night Rod Special, BMW R NineT, Ducati Diavel 1260, Kawasaki Ninja H2.  

Haha, sorry for the formal tone! I’ll keep it more chill from now on.  

A

*Keeping it more chill*  

Inspirations

Husky Hunt Quiz had just recently happened. In the event, you are given a series of puzzles to solve. The puzzles that I liked in particular are the crossword puzzles. There is great satisfaction in figuring out the questions that are easier, and that gradually illuminate the answers to the questions that are more difficult.

I thought that an interesting idea would be to have a crossword puzzle that is about trivia about Northeastern University. There would be more difficult questions, and the answers of which are just problematic facts about Northeastern University. However, players would not know the answers for them immediately, and first tackle the easier questions. Once the answers to the easier questions give clues to the more difficult ones, and they are able to figure the answers to them, there should be a dawning realization that the answers are problematic facts about Northeastern University.

The idea of a dawning realization is inspired by a previous class project that Celia told us about. It was about moving people in a train, but it turns out that the train is heading to Auschwitz. The realization re-contextualizes the activity and invokes shock within the players. I too want players in my intervention game to have this feeling.

Goal

Intervene against Northeastern University by getting people to learn problematic facts about them.

Original Ideas

I didn’t actually move forward with the crossword puzzle idea. The main feedback I received with it is that it is too passive. I can give someone a crossword puzzle, but once they solve it, they will say “oh” and move on with their life.

An idea that Celia recommended was a trivia night. It being a live event would make the intervention less passive and more active. However, it was difficult to book a night at After Hours, and given the time that I had, it was difficult to pull off an event like that.

Final Idea

An idea that was recommended to me by one of my classmates was to bring a camera and a mic, and ask random people on campus trivia questions. This was a lot easier to organize, and will have a lot of the same effect as a live trivia night. What makes this idea especially interesting is that I am able to capture a live response, and I am able to observe the responses of the person I am interviewing.

How It Went Down

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cbVt3_MdP_tcrOAI7YOrRs-_lrTy1WWW?usp=sharing

Interesting Observations

• People were most shocked by the amount Northeastern University invests into fossil fuels a few years back. They estimated far lowest.
• People were less shocked by the amount Northeastern University invests into environmental sustainability in comparison. Still, generally people estimate higher.
• I asked one person after the trivia was done what they thought. They did realize what the trivia was about towards the end.