Android
Social Sandwich
Talk to someone in another country and make sense of the world together. Free!
2021. The internet. An obstacle course of disinformation, trolls and depressing news stories. But what if it wasn’t? Social Sandwich is a project about online encounters with strangers - and the potential for connection rather than conflict. Instead of doom-scrolling during your breakfast, talk to someone in another country, see the world from their perspective, and make sense of the world together. Social Sandwich offers encounters with anonymous strangers at a time when our opportunities for physical travel are limited. It’s partly a playful glimpse into another person’s life and partly an experiment in collaborating with someone anonymous to determine the trustworthiness of the news that appears online. You are invited to indulge your curiosity with a 15 minute message-based conversation, find what you and your partner agree on - and how to keep talking when you don’t. The app that runs the artwork translates so that you can participate in your own language. Social Sandwich runs 6 - 12 September, with a chat window 8-9 am EDT (1-2pm BST) every day when you’ll be paired with a stranger. You can have multiple conversations in that hour, and you can take part every day of the week, or just one or two. Each day is different and each interaction is unique. Play every day or only once, it is up to you! It’s free and you can register from now onwards.
Audience Role
In pairs, the audience discuss general topics such as what they are most proud of, as well as analysing different news items and other content from the internet. This all happens via a chat function on a bespoke messaging app. Audience members never appear to each other and can create anonymous usernames if they wish. They are never asked to do anything uncomfortable or share more than they wish with each other. In the unlikely event their partner is making them uncomfortable, they can easily unmatch.
Ages: 16 +
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7
Events
6
Years on EI
About Fast Familiar
Fast Familiar make artworks which are participatory, playful and political. We’re a group of artists from different backgrounds who design audience-centric experiences which often utilise ‘digital technology’. We’re fascinated by human psychology in a rapidly changing world. For us, art is a space to explore questions which are too complex for daily life. We think art can be experimental and ambitious without being elitist.