Ugly Feelings | Paranoia

Sanctuary

Performer: Zihan Xiao

Location: my home, Ames, IA, USA

Course: DSN S 546 Performing Architecture

Professor: Mitchell Squire

April 2020

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Nowadays, people are saying the adults’ safest place is the restroom. This is a common social situation right now. When adults are suffered from the real-life, they will go to the restroom to leave the real world temporarily and stay with themselves for a while. This moment belongs to them. For example, when people encounter difficulties, they may lock themselves in the restroom and cry it out. When college students are struggling, they may escape from real life and hide in the restroom for a while. This escaping period is a temporary comfort for people. They will be truly themselves in the restroom. After they release themselves for a while and come back to the real world again, they will become normal.

Recently, the COVID-19 situation forced us to keep social distance and stay at home. It reveals that the way that our society can move forward is actually “not moving’’. In this way, if the COVID-19 situation becomes worse, are we going to narrow our social space down to a closed space? This performance brings everything of our daily life into the restroom.

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