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- Student
- 18/02/2020
Which guinea pig has the most attractive ears?
Day after day we leave a trail of data behind us on the social networks we visit on our cell phones. This data, unlocked with a dose of psychology, is used continually to categorize and rank our online ‘I’, for a multitude of purposes. There is considerable money to be made from our digital activities, right down to our last, casual ‘like’. This is revealed in a playful way by The Social Sorting Experiment. Last Thursday in Eindhoven the show was performed - and experienced by its audience - during student room festival Stukafest.
Various student rooms in Eindhoven became the stage last week for a wide variety of performances in an intimate setting, all under the banner of Stukafest. Also opening its doors was the creative living lab named Plug-in-City on Strijp-S - and the audience it welcomed became voluntary guinea pigs in The Social Sorting Experiment. The show, open to the public for three performances on Thursday evening, was secured for Stukafest by Studium Generale.
On the wooden floor in the compact container city on Leidingstraat forty-eight numbered squares are marked out with colored tape. The Smartphone Orchestra, which is putting on The Social Sorting Experiment, asks the participants to answer questions using an app on their cell phone and then move across the floor in response to the data gathered. This leads repeatedly to new, short meetings with other people.
Based on their own input, the participants feverishly categorize and rank each other - and so at the end of each experiment people can be chosen, like the participant with the most attractive ears or the best handshake. What's more the participants form a harmonious orchestra, thanks to the various musical parts for different instruments sent to their cell phones. The overarching message that the producers hope their guinea pigs will retain is this: realize that you are all here, together. Stay connected.
Also taking part in the experiment, armed with cell phone and camera, was our video reporter and social-media explorer Kevin Tatar, feeling “excited, but also a bit scared”. Watch his impressions below.
Missed out on The Social Sorting Experiment last Thursday and feeling slightly sorry now? Don't - because the production will be returning to Eindhoven on 28 March for the Luna Festival on TU/e campus.
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