The Project
The global pandemic generated by the sudden emergence of COVID-19 has pushed us to focus our energy on studying its effects and provide solutions to improve a new reality of an uncertain duration.
So far, So close started with a comprehensive research on the transformations that the pandemic is causing in the organization of our domestic and collective habitats, as well as on the effects that these changes have on physical, mental and emotional health of our society. One of the main conclusions of this research was the urgent need to revise the concept of social distancing, a very controversial term that can have devastating consequences if, as we can predict, the new reality extends over time.
So far, So close raises new relationship dynamics in the collective space, that work with physical distance as a factor in activating intimate relationships. It is about understanding the social distance forced by the pandemic as an opportunity to generate interaction instead of isolation. A series of mobile sound mirrors located in the public space facilitate the construction, through game logics, of multiple interaction scenarios: a giant phone game; a concert where spectators, while strolling, can listen to music on separate tracks; a personal message conveyed through a square full of people ...
So Far So Close transforms distance into an intimate and magical experience.
The project has been entirely conceived, developed and built by MEATS students and professors Xevi Bayona, Toni Montes and Roger Paez. It has had the support of Olot City Council, and was the first installation in the public space, made at the Olot Fair on July 17, 2020.