Conversation Pieces is borne out of the belief that many of the ills plaguing today's society can be attributed to the lack of meaningful communication occurring between people. The project addresses this issue by providing a forum for people to share ideas and have asynchronous dialogues without requiring them to physically interact in real time or to know the person they are conversing with.

Project Location
Various locations in the Dogpatch area. Conversation Piece No. 1 is located at the Caltrain station at 22nd Street and Iowa Street. Conversation Piece No. 2 is located at 20th Street and Indiana Street. Both pieces were eventually removed by the city in late 2007.

About the Project
The way that we communicate has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. The proliferation of new communication tools such as the Internet and mobile phones has fundamentally altered the way that we interact with our family, our peers, and even strangers. While these advancements in technology provide convenience in our lives, I would argue that they have also changed the nature of our daily encounters in ways that we still do not understand.

One possible effect of how these new modes of communication have transformed society can be seen in a study released in 2006. In this study, it was reported that nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, most often immediate family members. The study indicated that Americans have experienced a significant drop in the number of close friends since 1985. At that time, Americans most commonly said they had three close friends whom they had known for a long time, saw often, and with whom they shared a number of interests.

Let us think for a moment about the repercussions of this. If we no longer have a support system to share our personal struggles and secrets with, what does that do to our psyche, and in turn, how we treat those around us? If we are no longer exchanging ideas with people, how informed are our opinions? Can we attribute the narcissism rampant in today’s society to the interiority that a lack of close friends necessarily implies?

I do not claim to have a definitive answer to these questions, but it is my belief that there is a strong correlation between our lack of meaningful conversation with others and the rise of an increasingly insensitive society more concerned with acquiring the latest products and garnering “success” then with engaging in a meaningful exchange of ideas with those around them.

Conversation Pieces provide a safe space for individuals express their ideas and for others in their community to absorb and respond to these ideas—to engage in asynchronous conversation. To enable this, I have used standard chalkboard paint to create public discussion spaces where people can articulate their ideas. A question has been provided to provide a jumping off point for the discussion, and these questions are changed monthly.

The location of Conversation Piece No. 1 is a commuter train station in the Dogpatch area of San Francisco. The space is typically occupied by commuters who live in San Francisco and work in the suburbs of Silicon Valley. They can be observed reading newspapers and books, working on laptops, and listening to music on iPods while waiting for trains to arrive. By placing the piece in a space where people are forced to spend idle time and do not normally engage in conversation, I hope to alter this behavior by providing a “conversation piece” that can be discussed either asynchronously, or even synchronously amongst commuters.

Conversation Piece No. 2 is located below a freeway overpass in a largely untraveled area of the Dogpatch. I chose this location because it represents an in-between space where the only pedestrians who typically encounter the piece are one of the many homeless who reside in the area. By choosing such a site, I hope to provide a platform for these largely forgotten people to express their ideas. Too often we are quick to dehumanize the homeless. When they approach us for money, we put on blinders, look to our feet and walk quickly by. We forget that these are human beings. That they have dreams, desires, and fears. My hope is that the piece will serve as a site where the inhabitants of the area can be heard.

This project is closely related graffiti through its activation a public space. However, I also see Conversation Pieces functioning in a different manner. Rather than using the intervention as an externalization of self-identity, this project seeks to function as a vehicle through which others can express their own beliefs and desires.

While these asynchronous conversations by themselves are never going to catalyze pervasive social change, I do believe that they can facilitate dialog within a community. If, in the course of this dialog, a single person comes to question their own beliefs or learns how to more clearly articulate their ideals, I will consider this project a success. For while social change can happen from the top down, at a macro level, I also believe that it can happen on a micro level, or one person at a time.

While this type of social change may be imperceptible in a larger context, I believe that before we begin to attack the larger issues at hand, we need to re-learn how to engage with one another—to share our thoughts and beliefs and to listen to the thoughts and beliefs of those around us.