WAITING ROOMS · BOSTON

September 2017Nathalie Pozzi

The goal of the game you discover through play.
- Eric Zimmerman

Waiting Rooms is a large-scale installation developed with game designer Eric Zimmerman.

This work-in-progress explores the themes of bureaucracy, immigration, economic inequality, and the systematization of contemporary life. The Museum of Science was transformed into a series of absurdist waiting rooms governed by a topsy-turvy social economy through which players progress in sometimes collaborative and sometimes competitive ways.

Over four evenings, eight hundred Visitors stood in line, sat in confusion and frustration, and let time pass in the spaces of Waiting Rooms.

Large-scale physical installation

Collaboration with
Game designer Eric Zimmerman

Location
Museum of Science · Boston

Dates
26-27 September 2017
4-5 October 2017

Visitors
200+200+200+200

Photography
Cris Moor

Attendant Note:
Storage Room

One man stayed in the room for probably 40 minutes. He didn’t want to go back to where he came. I could tell he thought that something else was going to happen, but it never did. Eventually, he stole a ton of stuff and went on his way.

Attendant Note:
Forms Room

There was an unusual interaction when one guest pulled out his own blue tape! I’m not sure where he got it from and he tried to create his own lines. Perhaps he did something similar in other rooms.

Attendant Note:
Bingo Room

A Visitor was stuck in the bingo room for over an hour. He noted that the counters didn’t work well, that the rapidly speaking, erratically inconsistent bingo caller was frustrating and, smiling, said it was a "special hell.”