Shelly Liu

MA Design Engineering

Spark

Spark is a hyperlocal story-collecting installation created by three Design Engineering students interested in public art, data collection, and community engagement. Spark explores themes of connection to place, strangers, and ourselves. Through voice or text submissions, participants share stories, reflections, and experiences tied to a specific location. Spark then synthesizes these contributions into a collective description of that place’s emotional atmosphere. An accompanying online platform allows people to view submissions and explore the evolving atmosphere of each location, enabling visitors to return to places digitally and experience how their emotional tone changes over time. Developed through many conversations and iterations, the project investigates how public interaction can foster empathy, reflection, and community connection. In the future, Spark could be deployed across multiple locations to collect and analyze stories, sentiments, and public feedback over time.

Project done in collaboration with Maitlyn Lang MA 26 DE and Bozhou Pang MA 26 DE.

AI-generated rendering of the Spark installation placed beside a bench in a park setting.

Spark rendered next to a public park bench.
This is an AI-generated image.

Pink teardrop-shaped interactive device resting on grass, featuring a button, speaker, and QR code displayed on a screen.

Spark prototype.
Pink PETG, E-ink screen, Raspberry Pi, and button.

Spark’s website.

Spark’s online presence allows for multiple locations’ emotional atmosphere to be recorded and reviewed at any time. Visitors can view individual stories and the current recorded poetic atmosphere.