Are we really who we think we are? How far is our self-perception from the truth of how we present to the world?
That is the question we asked ourselves at the TED conference in 2015 in Vancouver, the theme of which was 'Truth and Dare'.
Target invited us to contribute an installation to their booth that would live for the week of the conference in Vancouver. Something that would force people to think; that would stand out to a gathering of the world's smartest people.
We came up with the idea of 'Dare to discover your body's truth' - an installation using innovative technologies to put a mirror up to our self-perception.
Attendees would undergo a brief psychographic profiling, ranking themselves against various emotional attributes - courageousness, sensitivity, etc. Then they entered a booth, wearing sophisticated medical devices that tracked their physiological indicators while they watched an immersive piece of content that followed a life's journey.
When they exited, they were served a custom visualization of their results - a beautiful, generative piece of art that explored the similarities and discrepancies in their results.
They received a canvas printed and framed version on the spot, and their results were added to an aggregate visualization that evolved across the week.
800 people came through the installation across the week, over half the attendees of TED.