Head Above Water

Lead Designers Juan Ferrari

Entry Description

As part of the London Design Festival and designjunction, British designer Steuart Padwick’s sculpture ‘Head Above Water’ made a dramatic change to the London skyline in support of mental health
At night, Head Above Water was lit and people engaged with its changing colours to reflect how they are feeling through a designated Twitter feed – in real time.
Head Above Water was able to interact with users via social media, acting as a barometer for London’s wellbeing. Emotions and moods were sent to the sculpture via Twitter. This triggered representative lighting scenes, allowing observers a unique level of interaction with the piece, creating a two-way interactive experience with Head Above Water triggering and receiving states of mind.
The technology and scripting behind the sculpture was developed to anonymously log the interactions. These will be collated to show the emotional state of the audience over the course of the installation – in turn this information will be discussed and interpreted by psychologists and mental health professionals to assist their research.
Photo credits: Dan Paton