“The Chair, In A Room” was a public design installation that aimed to explore the role of social imagination. The exhibition, inspired by a quote from designer Eliel Saarinen, was part of the Design Junction festival held in London’s King’s Cross district. Housed in a Red House, it featured an audio and visual experience designed to investigate our capacity to think creatively, daydream and imagine.

The installation’s film, accompanied by an audio experience, took visitors on a journey, allowing them to explore what neuroscientist Daniel Levitin calls their own “mind-wandering mode.” It emphasized the importance of imagination and how we can all envision, create, and shape our collective futures.

“Creative people are conspicuous for the investment that they make in daydreaming; that time and space are found so that daydreaming is cultivated and shepherded into some act of creation. Let free, the wandering mind will begin to fold itself into a spiral, visiting and revisiting anew. Soon the creative person will be moved to work and will stay for days in a kind of cognitive dance, wandering and focusing, until the work is done.”

Collaborators: Research: Rebecca Welsh. Set Design: Harriet Paterson and Charlotte Bentley. Graphics: Olivia Tirard and Carole-Anne Dos Santos. 3D Animation: Leon Duffy. Installation: Tim Warren. Contributing Writer: Professor Peter Kawalek. Programme Management: Becky Lyon. Code: Lloyd Ifor Thomas. Project Managers: Jessie Harris and Lola Sauer.