Arts Thread

Tillhöra is a wall-to-floor rug and an app designed through an exploration of displacement and belonging. It is intended to help youth settle into unfamiliar places through the use of artificial intelligence, social media and sensory experience. The app’s embedded AI interprets photographs and instructs the rug to emit sound, vibrations and light that emulate the photograph’s atmosphere, allowing the user to transcend the barrier of place and experience a feeling of ‘home’. As someone who migrated at a young age, I have experienced migration to be a self-defining event that is often a topic of familiarity and understanding within displaced communities. I was drawn to exploring communities in crisis and the impact of seeking better living conditions on social and personal wellbeing as “international humanitarian interventions rarely target youth... perhaps the most under-served amongst the displaced” (UNHCR, 2013). Thus, I wished to address youth displacement and belonging through my design with the aim of improving young migrant experiences.