Babar Suleman

'Strangers Love Secrets' is an interactive installation I collaborated on with another designer, YuChien Kao. 

Sharing stories is a great way to make people connect with each other. We wanted to create an intervention that allowed people to achieve a sense of shared understanding. We hope these strangers will realize and appreciate the fact that all these people around them in the park share the same kinds of secrets, whether they are worries, aspirations, fears or longings, go through the same kinds of feelings and experiences, and that they have the power to give and receive, quite simply, love and happiness.

We wanted to give our users a quick way to exchange happiness with other people because secrets bring people closer but ultimately we all want happiness!

Strange Secrets: A beautifully illustrated ‘wall’ of post-its: three on top of each other in every stack so the one on the top could hide the ones below and the ones at the bottom could be augmented with more post-its containing submissions and responses by strangers. We called these post-its our ‘secret holders’.

Love Exchange Box: Share a happy moment, take one in return. Strangers can put a message full of happiness and love inside a box and take another person’s with them in return.

To read some of the happiness messages and secrets that people shared with each other, please visit the New York Secrets Facebook page.

CREDITS

Babar Suleman

YuChien Kao