Methods

Curiosity

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A strong desire to know or learn something.
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To use curiosity as a method to subvert one’s expectations means: to raise a strong desire in one to know or learn something.

The project examples that use curiosity show that to raise this desire you can use contrast with the environment to grab one’s attention, and lure them to the project itself. This can be a use of contrast in colour, as done in the project ‘Delirious Frites’, a bright pink installation in between two brown buildings. Raising curiosity can also be done by the use of contrast in shape, for example the spherical houses in the middle of an ordinary neighbourhood. Or contrast in material, like in the ‘Oase No. 7’, where a plastic balloon suddenly pops out of a building. Passing by something that is out of the ordinary and contrasts with the environment raises curiosity.

It can also be achieved by the use of sound, for example the sound of the waterfall in the back of Paley Park. This natural sound is out of its place in the urban surroundings, a busy road, that you notice it and makes you eager to know more.

Curiosity can also be achieved by placing an object somewhere where it is alien. For example the Lego Table that was placed in the faculty of architecture. Adding an element that does not belong there, will be noticed by passersby, and ask questions why it is there or what it is. It also evokes questions about work ethic in the faculty of architecture, the importance we attach to models, who decides what’s beautiful and exhibited, and other forms of regulatory power.

Confusion is often found together with curiosity, probably because confusion makes us curious. When you see something you do not understand, you usually have a desire to know more about it.