Placebos is an enquiry in self surveillance, psychogeography and conversational interfaces. It functions as a conversational application that allows its user to log and share their varying moods through the day using SMS. In response to every mood sent, the application returns texts that are meant to act like placebos by empathizing with the user’s feelings. These textual responses are algorithmically generated using sender’s feelings and local weather conditions such as wind velocity, precipitation, and humidity. Attributing ones feeling or mood to the weather is a common motif across many cultures, and this project aims to use that motif to make-believe that the city is empathizing with you.
Logging moods via SMS
The web interface that logs all interactions with the application
Message flow through the application
Exhibitions
Conflux Festival, New York, USA, September 2007
