For this trade project, I began with a single small hinge which I traded for an empty beer bottle, then for a college of Computer Science pen, then for pocket LED flashlight.

For the experience project, I chose to create a mental journey experience by creating a sound piece using mainly humming which builds to an overwhelming state and finally drops off, and putting the participant in a small, dark space, depriving the subject of all senses except hearing. When the Sound stops, the participant is allowed to enter into an expanded mind space devoid of physical senses.

“Overall, the experience was very lucid and dream-like. I would honestly compare it to the feeling of being high. For the most part it was a very serene, tranquil experience. I felt at peace with my mind and body. However, there was one part where it cuts to silence and I remember being eerily scared. While listening to the sound art, I had more self-reflective thoughts. I found myself not worrying about the smaller things that usually consume my mind, but rather larger, more important questions.”

When thinking about the people in your life you can picture their faces and perhaps identify them by their stature or gait, but how many of your friends belly buttons can you recognize? A belly button is so personal, and unique to each individual. I chose to collect the belly buttons of the people I encounter and important people in my life.

The following are a few examples of systems I’ve put in place into my life, each aiming to achieve normalcy, order, and maybe even some ounce of control,  and here’s how I did some of them wrong.

1. System: Dressing
Input: Need to be clothed
Output: Outfit
Feedback: Warmth

Doing it wrong: Perfect for a snowy cold day?

2. System: Eating
Input: Hunger
Output: Fullness
Feedback: Enjoyment/nutritional value

Doing it wrong: Nutritious dinner.

3. System: Exercise
Input: Desire to be fit
Output: fitness
Feedback: appearance, health
Doing it wrong: Exercise as a couch potato.

4. System: Studying
Input: Desire for good grades
Output: Grades
Feedback: GPA, scores, perceived success

Doing it wrong: These books won’t read themselves, nor will I.

5. System: Makeup
Input: Desire to be beautiful
Output: My second “face”
Feedback: Compliments, perceived beauty

Doing it wrong: #nofilter #no makeup

6. System: Work
Input: Desire for money
Output: Money
Feedback: Time, money
Doing it wrong: Don’t show up for work, win the “worst employee of the month” award

7. System: Art practice
Input: Passion for art
Output: artworks
Feedback: Self-satisfaction, quality, others’ remarks

Doing it wrong: One of my more conceptual pieces.

8. System: Human contact
Input: Desire for connectedness
Output: relationships
Feedback: Satisfaction
Doing it wrong: Don’t text back when I receive texts.

9. System: Dressing
Input: Desire to be beautiful
Output: Outfit
Feedback: Compliments, perceived beauty

Doing it wrong: I’ll turn plenty of heads in this shapeless men’s hoodie.

10. For the final system, I chose to analyze my sleep patterns. Like the majority of college students I consider myself quite a night owl; I can stay up until 5 AM with relative ease but if you ask me to wake up at 5 AM I’ll hit the snooze button for a few more hours. I chose to flip this system but taking an extreme view of a morning person, and tried out a new sleep schedule. I went to sleep at 7:30 PM with the help of my exhaustion and some natural sleep supplements, and set my alarm to wake me at 3:30 AM.

I thought that perhaps I would be able to get work done in the morning with a full 8 hours of sleep behind me (which I don’t usually achieve) but when I woke up I found that the number of hours made no difference to my feelings of rested-ness–I was just as tired as any other morning, but this morning I had 7 hours to kill before my first class. I ended up just sitting around for mot of the morning, and I even watched a movie over breakfast and my morning coffee but I was entirely unproductive. As the day progressed and I made it to the afternoon I had already had a full day and was entirely exhausted but unfortunately could not take a break from my daily responsibilities to nap. 22 hours after I had awoken in the morning I finally went back to sleep, and was able to resume my regular waking hour the next day.