Results and Themes

Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying fall

Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume?      -Excerpt from T.S. Elliot, Prufrock The choices we make are the legacy of the people we know. The ones that we love really put on our show. We're made of threads from the fabric of life. We would be so bland if it wasn't for strife. We're just tiny pinballs in a game of chance, An empty cauldron filling someone else's pants. What would we be, if no one was around? I don't think a personality could even be found.     -Excerpt from J.B. LeBuert The Choices      We Make I chose these excerpts to go along with the project because of their thematic relationship to the text. Once I collected the results I immediately noticed that there were many more people who chose to go to the out of the comfort zone side. It seemed to me almost that people were choosing it because they thought it was the right answer, or that they thought there was something more virtuous to choosing it. But really I think people thought they were going to get some sort of moral pat on the back for it, and that's why I chose the Lebuert poem. As for the Elliot piece, I think the line "Do I dare / Disturb the universe?" is pretty indicative of the project as a whole. Similarly, the rest of the poem is partially about a man who struggles to move himself to action, and is frustrated with his own and other people's unwillingness to change. I thought this was a fitting companion to the project. Below are the results copied as submitted: Went outside the comfort zone 1. Usually out of necessity. I tend to avoid it and stay in because I get anxious. Usually, I feel okay because it is not as bad as I thought it would be. I chose this side as nothing I felt nothing bad can really happen. I did not Choose because of rewards, but rather what the risk was 2. I always want to try and experience new things. Its a way for me to stay Positive and feel like I’m growing Leaving my comfort zone allows me to challenge my ideas and self understanding You never know what could happen or who youll meet. Even if it ends badly at least somethingl happened. Go learn from it 3. IF YOU NEVER LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE, YOU NEVER GROW. I FEEL ANXIOUS but EXCITED, SOMETIMES I REGRET IT BUT USually NOT. BECAUSE I ALWAYS CHOOSE THIS SIDE 4. I have never taken the easy path. I feel like we were all born with curiosity. The question is when do we let curiosity act. Only the risk taker wins or loses, the others do not play I would have gone for the comfort zone if it was my comfort zone However, I do not feel like I contributed in making it The idea is to have fear, overcome it and then learn more. You can always go back to your comfort zone but only every once in a while you can take risks 5. A sense of obligation (in the Kantian sense - i.e. when it seems to be the right thing to do) I’m generally content as long as i feel I’ve made the right decision I’m on a creative high right now 6. I feel like nobody leaves their comfort zone unless they feel like there is something to gain. Happy people may not feel the need. Fear is supplanted by understanding, and understanding leads to the expansion of one’s comfort zone. I chose this side because it felt most natural - this is the perfect stage of my life to venture into the unknown! (We do this every day!) 7. We choose to leave our comfort zones because we’re afraid of missing opportunities (ex love, ambition) We feel scared, hopeful, disappointed I’m on a diet... Stayed in the Comfort Zone: 1. A. Need for food & Shelter B. Safety or new experiences C. I wanted some candy 2. A. I always try to go out of it but I think it’s hard to get out of it fully-people move slightly     outwards but dont fully leave it so i feel like I actually dont leave it. B. I feel doubt where I am even comfortable or not what my comfort zone is C. People don’t know themselves and very rarely actually learn their comfort zone. I am one of those 3. I cannot eat this candy I like candy I am vegan ---------------- AC Test Outside: 1. curiosity! hope of something better FEAR  disappointment?  Excitement You’ve been hypin it for a while + I had time to think thru my options + I was willing to bet this side had somethin cooler than candy (It didn’t) 2. Learning/experiencing new things really broadens my horizons Excitement from trying something different and learning from the consequences. Wasn’t feeling the candy cause I just ate. Tryna keep the calorie intake lower. 3. A. Sometimes I want to challenge myself. Sometimes I know I need to grow. Sometimes you don’t have a choice but to Branch out - you aren’t given an option. But other times I want to be safe. Other times I want to be cozy + comfortable. Other times I know I can’t handle it. Other times the costs aren’t worth any gain B. Usually I feel doubt. that I made the wrong choice, that I would’ve been better in the other option. Rarely am I confident I did the right thing. C. I’m not totally sure. The other side looked like it was trying too hard tbh. I didn’t feel particularly strongly about this one though. just…  chose it? 4. If I am feeling v restrained somehow doubt It was closer 5. What drives me is to be different and not do what everyone else is doing. Either complete satisfaction or regret I was hoping the notes contained something inspirational. I preferred that rather than chocolate 6. Boredom. Feelings of inadequacy Depends on what happens. If it goes wrong, I regret it. If it goes well, I’m happy I did. The yellow tape on the Floor seems aggressive. I’m going to take the candy From the other table anyways. 7. I go outside my comfort zone when I see an opportunity to experience something new I feel excited when I leave my comfort zone some one was at the other table Inside: 1. fear, caution, pessimism I forget about the choice 2. New environment  New Vibe  New people Scared. afraid. While exciting. the brighter color 3. Staying within my comfort zone is … comforting .  especially in unfamiliar environments. like i’m not pushing myself candy :) 4. Knowing it will pay off in the end (drives me to go outside my comfort zone) … comfort, but also guilt for not pushing myself I didn’t know what this was + was just tryna eat some candy 5 Out: I think the ambiguous is exciting. I have no choice but to be comfortable + adaptable. To stay within I feel complacent + lazy. I always want to push out! I was feeling chocolate -y candy! 6. Circumstance or being w/ friends Either uncomfortable or regret bc the other one was filled 7. I feel comfortable there and I like certainty I feel relieved Because I like to be certain 8. The people I’m with Once I leave: it’s great if I find a way to adjust. But comfort zone is better candy??? 9. Fear     comfort(obvious) Self-sure.  confident Candy?

Displaying the Results in the NYU Berlin Academic Center

I was very pleased to have gotten about 26 responses for the Comfort Zones project. Considering there are only a few more than 100 students at NYU Berlin, this is a pretty significant portion of the population. Once I got the handwritten responses I transcribed them exactly as they were written (which was sometimes a challenge) in order to display them. Some of them were aggressive, slightly offensive, funny, unusual, and nonsensical. But most of them were quite interesting and thought provoking. 

In displaying the results I wanted to be clear about what the project had been, and I wanted to be clear about what I wanted to convey with the results. When I was collecting the hand written results, the image of so many small thin pieces of paper sort of reminded me of the rungs of a ladder. This got me thinking about my method of display. So I arranged each side: the responses from people who chose to stay within the comfort zone and those from people who chose to go outside it, on either side of a pillar. The explanation was in the middle. 

      

At the top of each ladder I put a piece of verse that I thought encapsulated the results of the project in an interesting thematic way, as if to suggest that the ladder was leading to something, and people had the choice to go one way or another. 

Academic Center Final Installation

I knew the biggest event would be when I had the installation in the academic center because that's the place where I could get the most traffic going by. The dorm run was mostly just a test. But this was the real deal, so I added these posters, which added a lot to it. (Artistic advisory from Clara Lu).

We put these up all over the Academic Center, which is a fairly small space, so the effect was almost overwhelming. It definitely had the desired effect, along with the second Facebook post and the word of mouth from the first test. Word of mouth was very important, but in the end it was just getting as many people to see it as possible that made the difference. 

But not only was it just getting people to see it, I also discovered that it was incredibly important that people have a very explicit explanation of what was going on. At first I had ideas that I would do this anonymously and be all sneaky about it and not really provide much by way of directions. But had I done that I doubt I would have gotten very many, if any responses. I think this above poster with the explanation made a big difference. 

Marketing!

I started out with just a Facebook post, some wechat messages, and quite a bit of word of mouth. But after talking with Matt and Marianne, and after getting very limited response I added a lot more. Firstly was a whole lot of tape arrows that I put up around the dorms. There were perhaps 10-12 of them. Then there was this poster that I made for the Monday morning event in the Academic Center.

The problem was that people didn't know enough about the project and not enough people knew. This was something that I would continue to struggle with throughout the project.

 

Preliminary Ideas

After I resolved to keep the project to answering the two main questions, I thought that it would be most interesting if it could be more than just a survey. I wanted the very act of answering the questions to be an act of choosing whether or not to go outside of your comfort zone. This I thought, would add legitimacy by giving the project some stakes, and draw participants to think a bit more about their responses when they put them down.  

Originally I had hoped to have concentric circles with the comfort zone being the outside and then exiting the comfort zone being the far inner zone. But then I thought that to simplify the process it would be good to just have too separate booths, much like voting booths.

First test, at the NYU Berlin dorm common room: "Kino Babelsberg"

These were some of the pictures that were cut out and placed in the bowl to signify a mixture of success and failure. Some of them were meant to be ironic, but still to get people thinking.

The Idea Behind Comfort Zones

The idea behind Comfort Zones was first to get stories from people about their experiences when they went outside their comfort zones. But as the idea developed, I figured that this would probably not be too practical since many of those experiences would be quite personal. But when I looked a bit deeper, I boiled down my interest to two main ideas: why do people leave their comfort zone? And what happens when they do?