PIOTR SMIECHOWICZ

London | UK

The Moon Catcher

Contemporary problems in London emphasise social media hate crimes, associated to increased mental health issues that have led to a huge percentage of young people suffering anxiety, depression and even considering suicide. 2 million Londoners experienced detrimental mental health this year, largely attributable to social media technologies and emerging trends such as the Posthuman – we already have sex bots able to actualize our desires – isolating even the most intimate aspects of our lives. The Loneliness Experiment, conducted by Radio 4 indicated that 40% of people aged 16-24 feel lonely and disconnected, despite an abundance of “online” friends on social media platforms such as Facebook.

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Acquiescing Soho’s notorious history of nightlife culture and the sex industry; the Moon Catcher proposes a diurnal space whereby young people are able to connect with nature’s beauty, escape the blue light of the screen, and feel the pleasures offered by Epicureanism, i.e. of body and mind. During daylight, users can broaden their knowledge of cosmology and mental health, and stretch-out on the craterous urban beach. At dusk, collective moonbathing becomes the dernier cri, welcoming extra-terrestrial pleasures from the moon’s 8 phase cycle, before retiring to a private hotel room at the first light of dawn.

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“The young moon has fed
Her exhausted horn
With the sunset’s fire”

Percy Bysshe Shelley [Hellas, Semi-Chorus II]