The Unfinished Shelter

We are scanning an international student's bedroom. Focusing on the existence of Generation Z in the context of globalization, our project explores the symbiotic relationship between “home culture” and “loneliness” through the digital reproduction of an international student's bedroom in Sydney. The scan captures the qualities of the room as a “liminal space” - it is both a physical haven and an ambiguous zone of cultural identity. Gaming equipment coexists with books, and packages of instant food are stacked next to the books, an arrangement that reveals the ambivalence of today's youth as they search for a balance between the virtual and the real. The posters of young girls from the second generation plastered all over the walls create a strong visual impact - they are both a buffer for loneliness and a virtual vehicle for emotional projection, suggesting that the host repeatedly reinforces the psychological dependence on this “inhuman companionship”. The lines of the animated characters play on a loop in the room, mechanically and granularly saying "I like you. I want to be with you all the time." The brutal contrast with the actual coffee cup collecting dust on the bedside reveals a new type of loneliness in Generation Z: they are skillful at living with loneliness, but in their hearts they long for companionship, and the image of the companion is not a real person.