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The Vehicle As a Memory Vessel
I believe emotions are crucial in driving. Your emotional and mental state influences how you drive and move your body. We often see the vehicle as an extension of our body, but we rarely consider the mental and emotional impact of driving such an object. Emotions can affect our senses, reactions, decisions, and overall driving experience. Some time ago, I struggled with a fear of driving and didn't understand its cause. To explore this, I tried to notice the specific anxieties I experienced. Two key issue are: losing control and the fear of taking up space with my car in traffic.
Inspired by a car I loved driving, I developed a car frame concept excisting out of 38 tubes with its own manual. It’s designed to create a personal space, either as a small stack of tubes or a life-sized car, serving as my safe space. The car frame emphasizes control and occupying space. The instruction manual is only understandable to me, giving me unique control over the assembly. The car also takes up physical space, representing my presence as a woman in the vehicle subculture and as a artist.
In my installation, I emphasise the importance of recognising and integrating these emotional factors. This approach challenges stereotypes and underscores the significance of emotional intelligence in driving. It aims to make the vehicle not just a machine but a true extension of our emotional and physical selves, fulfilling our need for movement.I felt a strong desire to make the static sculpture move. Inspired by a mechanical system used to paint and repair car frames, I found its slow, steady movement peaceful as it worked between two axes to fix the 'body.' I replicated this motion by automating the sculpture with a motor. This slow movement contrasts sharply with the violent spinning of a car in an accident.
The research of the thesis focuses on unraveling the emotional complexities inherent in human-vehicle interactions, with a particular emphasis on understanding the impact of emotions on driving behavior and attitudes towards vehicular existence. As cars and motorcycles are closely intertwined with in my life, an autoethnographic approach is used in the writing. Personal experiences and stories are combined with literature and research theories. The narrative of this essay is shaped by several key elements drawn from my own sensory experiences related to the fear of driving. These experiences provide a personal perspective that supports the analysis. Through these key elements, themes of community, anxiety, isolation, control, gender, the vehicle as a bodily and mental extension, and human-technology symbiosis are explored. The exploration of these themes offers an understanding of the emotional dimensions of human-vehicle interactions.
The thesis is also self-published in a small booklet, available for 18 euros (excluding shipping costs). If you are interested, you can send a mail to info@laurabouman.com
This research was presented at the MIVC Graduation Research Hub held at V2_ in Rotterdam.
More details about this presentation can be found at: current.is
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