For my project I wanted to focus on the process of therapy or the feel-good-emotions of the audience while engaging in my art piece. Being a period of high stress and anxiety for everyone in Brown (exams, projects, graduation, post-graduation-no-job-in-bad-economy worries) I feel it would be an effective concept to soothe the mood of students here.
My initial experiment was a punching stand where people could vent out their frustrations. The surface was drawable and people could write or draw whatever is causing them so much stress and be the focus of attack. It would be placed in the Science Library where people would be cooped up for hours frantically studying and worrying, hence an apt location to stress relieve.
However, it wasn’t practical to build such a huge structure (due to fire safety reasons) and my lack of skills in building a stable and strong enough stand to withstand the force. Here was a mock-up I did which actually functioned pretty well as a knock-around punching bag on a bed, made of bubble wrap, a gallon of water and some tape.
My other experiment was a projection of a message to the seniors to reflect their time remaining in Brown and to cherish the last few weeks in college. A projector would be mounted on a window facing Thayer Street from the Science Library. It would be hooked up to a laptop would be able to customize a projected message. However, some of the messages could be misinterpreted as bomb threats or some similar security scare, hence it may not be the most wise of public art experiment.
My final experiment for the week was portable therapeutic art pieces. This was a take on the stress ball, where the comforting squishy feeling of kneading the object helps to relieve stress. I used the glove as the object, as the shape of the hand is familiar and act as a literal source of support through the tough exam period.
The objects used: 
And the extremely satisfying and tactile outcome: 
