Event 1 - Industrialization and Its Effect on People

        Today I attended the graduate solo show of Jonathan Moore. The event was held at the Broad EDA.
       The show started a little bit late than scheduled, and began with a rather strict entrance check, with the ID check followed by a security check. The security check machines were old-fashioned. Staff wearing uniforms with firm gesture perform the check to the audience in a lengthy, detailed, even somewhat oppressive way.
        After the security check, one staff asked every audience in a cold tone about every personal item he or she brings, and demanded the audience to touch a controller that seems to test something. A label with OK, Accepted, Defective, Do Not Use or Rejected is then stuck to the audience's clothes and their personal items. I observed about twenty different people and did not find any explicit rule to determine the label an audience is given from their appearances and actions. However, I did feel much relieved when I was given the green "Accepted" label.
         The audiences is then led to form a queue entering a small room that reads "DANGEROUS" at its front side. A funny set of speakers continues to broadcast speeches with some unknown language which reminds me of the . The atmosphere is so strange that many audiences laughed out loud. We were deliberately treated like industrial products rather than people, which is a clear indication that the theme of the show is about the (possibly negative) effects of industrialization on people.
       The label at the front of the room is manually changed occasionally, from "DANGEROUS" to "CORROSIVE" and then to some blank message that seem to prohibit the audience from entering. The audiences is then asked to enter the room one by one. The room had a speaker in it and became completely dark when the doors are shut. The time I entered it nothing happened, and for about 15 seconds I was alone in the room with complete darkness and silence. When I returned for a second time and asked for something different I received a loud alarm which could be quite scary if not emotionally prepared. This seemed like a testing phase of the products.
       After exiting the room from the other side the audience is then asked to complete a survey about the show. However, any audience that gives a negative feedback is then given a label of Destroyed or Hold, and the audiences that give all positive feedback are given the labels Tested or OK To Ship. The response to the survey seems to be somewhat utilitarian, but can definitely be understood from the perspective of industrialization. Order is maintained and enforced throughout the show, and the audiences all become participants in it. Throughout the journey as an industrial product rather than a person with free will, I have gained much insight into the possible fallbacks of industrialization and received the message the show tries to communicate.
        Despite being treated like an industrial product throughout the show, I would still recommend it. The show is successful in giving audiences the kind of emotion it aims to produce, and its unique perspective of making the audience feel like an industrial product is fascinating.

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