Spaces of Paused Mobility: A Sensory Geography of Waiting Rooms

In a consumer society where wants and needs may be instantly fulfilled, waiting for anything seems increasingly like an anachronism. And yet whether in relation to flows of people or things, or the work of bureaucracies, spaces of waiting proliferate and are integral to how our society of connections and circulations functions. This study seeks to understand how the under explored process of waiting can be mapped and understood as a distinct sensory experience within a society that increasingly deems the act of waiting as outmoded. Using sensory recording methods, it will generate new data about the process of waiting as a bodily, sensory and affective encounter with three distinct spaces of waiting - a crown court, a cosmetic surgery centre, and a driving test centre. Through observation and participant interviews, the study will investigate how the dynamics of power and powerlessness organize and vary across these different spaces of waiting and how these notions inform sensory responses to the sites. The study will seek to expand current understanding of non-representational theories by demonstrating how installation artworks can be used as method for data gathering, as well as tool for dissemination and occasion for encounter and discussion.