Conversation Station was a social intervention I mounted in 2012 at the Angove Street Festival.  It created opportunities for people to have random but deliberate face to face conversations.  The intention was to highlight the increasing novelty of face to face communication, and give people a chance to reflect on whether they value such conversations and the skills required to have them.

I met and talked with lovely strangers who enjoyed eye contact as much as me, and among other things, I learned about mirror neurons, which allow you to feel what another person is feeling if you’re looking at them. Participants were amused and willing, although some of them didn’t want to put their phones in my bucket.  I imagine that would be even harder for them today.  Conversation Station was a forerunner to the Humans Like Humans project series.

Thanks to Yolanda Terlera for being talkative with strangers that day.

“We are exquisitely social creatures,” Dr. Rizzolatti said. “Our survival depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others.”
Blakeslee, New York Times, 10 Jan 2006.