Honorable mention from Europejskie Centrum Solidarnosci
in "Przestrzen Publiczna w czasach zarazy" competition
by Instytut Dizajnu w Kielcach
in "Przestrzen Publiczna w czasach zarazy" competition
by Instytut Dizajnu w Kielcach
Jury assessment:
Zorya transforms danger into beauty with unprecedented sensitivity. The proposed way of determining the zone of potential infection tames the pandemic fear of the recipient . We perceive the concept as an artistic response, while appreciating the concern for safety and innovative use of technology.

distance (noun) - range in time or space
Architecture operates through distance. Transforms it into beauty.
In the isolation mode, the outer walls of our private houses, flats, rooms, cars are the hard border of our sense of security. Everything beyond stays unknown. The actual risk is of a different nature though. The safety boundary is soft and gradual. Smooth, yet mathematically descriptive. In the spatial dimension, by the range of the virus spread in the air - it can be up to 2 meters according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, or up to 8 meters according to scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the time dimension by the length of its survival - 3 hours in the air, 24 hours on cardboard or fabric and 72 hours on glass, plastic or metal.
According to Immanuel Kant, human beings are characterized by Unsocial Sociability - the dualism between the need for integration and isolation. Its purpose is to find a balance of one’s own. Richard Sennett argues that urbanity is the ability to manage complexity - reacting to unpredictable circumstances. Pandemic redefines our well-established distances, but public space does not have to be completely digitized. Even without the possibility of direct interaction, we can safely coexist in it while maintaining an adequate space-time distance.
Auroras (in Russian Zorya) in Slavic mythology are the daughters of solar deity Dazbog, who guard Smiargl - the hound of annihilation, the husband of Kupalnitsa the goddess of night - to be chained to the star Polaris. In this way saving the world from the apocalypse.
Zorya is also an interactive system for mapping the real possibility of infection through light and color in time and space, softening the borders of isolation into boundaries of possible, safe coexistence in public space. It consists of:
1) adaptable grid to be fixed to existing walls of the public space or used as a free-standing structure
2) chords emitting cool light by producing energy from their own vibrations on the wind
3) sensors tracing the direction of movement and wind strength with adaptive fade time over different types of surfaces.
Zorya does not program the space. It recognizes the value in the diversity of its applications. In the evening it illuminates the way.
Zorya operates through distance. Transforms it into beauty.
In the isolation mode, the outer walls of our private houses, flats, rooms, cars are the hard border of our sense of security. Everything beyond stays unknown. The actual risk is of a different nature though. The safety boundary is soft and gradual. Smooth, yet mathematically descriptive. In the spatial dimension, by the range of the virus spread in the air - it can be up to 2 meters according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, or up to 8 meters according to scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the time dimension by the length of its survival - 3 hours in the air, 24 hours on cardboard or fabric and 72 hours on glass, plastic or metal.
According to Immanuel Kant, human beings are characterized by Unsocial Sociability - the dualism between the need for integration and isolation. Its purpose is to find a balance of one’s own. Richard Sennett argues that urbanity is the ability to manage complexity - reacting to unpredictable circumstances. Pandemic redefines our well-established distances, but public space does not have to be completely digitized. Even without the possibility of direct interaction, we can safely coexist in it while maintaining an adequate space-time distance.
Auroras (in Russian Zorya) in Slavic mythology are the daughters of solar deity Dazbog, who guard Smiargl - the hound of annihilation, the husband of Kupalnitsa the goddess of night - to be chained to the star Polaris. In this way saving the world from the apocalypse.
Zorya is also an interactive system for mapping the real possibility of infection through light and color in time and space, softening the borders of isolation into boundaries of possible, safe coexistence in public space. It consists of:
1) adaptable grid to be fixed to existing walls of the public space or used as a free-standing structure
2) chords emitting cool light by producing energy from their own vibrations on the wind
3) sensors tracing the direction of movement and wind strength with adaptive fade time over different types of surfaces.
Zorya does not program the space. It recognizes the value in the diversity of its applications. In the evening it illuminates the way.
Zorya operates through distance. Transforms it into beauty.