Explorers

Explorers features over 150 people going through a cathartic moment of social influence together. Social scientists define social influence as the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by the presence of others whether their presence is real, imagined, or implied. We can be aware of social influence when it occurs, but it also often occurs without our conscious knowledge or awareness. 

Explorers features a silent composition of a very human scene: a crowd of people pausing to witness something captivating yet unnamed. While some Explorers stand in contemplative thought, others snap photos of the awe-inspiring subject that is intentionally left off screen. Are they sharing in something sublime, confounding, or disturbing? Is the role of these Explorers to guide us, to influence us, or to reflect on the barometers of social connection, the human interactions often mitigated by our mobile devices and tech distractions? 

Undoubtably the reaction to seeing Explorers is for visitors to take out their own devices and snap photos of the installation, mimicking the performance taking place in the work. The work creates a connection between viewer and artwork but also questions the fragility of this connection dictated by devices. In a world where so many of our connections are digital or mediated by a machine how do we connect on a deep level as human beings? 

This work was originally commissioned by the Exploratorium in San Francisco California.