DEPT. Out there
DEPT. (Describing the Present Tense) is a participatory research project that starts from a simple question: what if we hold on a moment to see what's around us? It turns that question into a method, treating the present not as something to record, but as something to actively investigate, using tools drawn from digital social science, participation design and the performing arts.
The project unfolds as a series of workshops, each built around a different way of paying attention to ordinary surroundings. The series was cut short in 2020 by the Covid-19 emergency.
This page presents the results of one of them: Out There, run with Drugo More in Rijeka, Croatia, in November 2019, which looked at the signs, inscriptions and objects that quietly invite people to act in public space.
