“The Butterfly Effect” was an interactive public art installation designed to connect strangers in a busy city.
This paper maché dragon sculpture, made of newspaper, was installed as a “centerpiece” at a historical landmark at Harvard Square. The newspapers that this sculpture was crafted from, came from the newspapers gathered from the kiosk itself, once a 24/7 international newsstand: the art installation pays homage to a time when news existed primarily in paper form, and when reading a newspaper in public could spark conversation with a stranger. Much like the ritual of discussing the Sunday paper, this installation aims to create a space for interactive discourse and public commons, and served as an invitation to exchange new ideas, and have meaningful conversations about the world while relating to one's own experience.
Participants wrote wishes on origami paper (for themselves, for someone they love, or for the world), folded them into butterflies, and attached them as colorful scales to the dragon.
Over time, the dragon became a participatory altar, full of dreams - similar to ema plaques left at Shinto shrines. The dragon shape was chosen since stories are collective myths: shared narratives that outlive any single teller. Dragons, mythical creatures, exist only through shared imagination. The work shows that hopes, like myths, gain life and power through collective telling.
"Butterfly Effect" speaks to the idea that even small gestures, like folding a shape, sharing a thought, or engaging in a moment of creativity, can ripple outward: to create a more connected society, one interaction at a time.
Another extraordinary coincidence that happened: one day, two women stopped by and participated in the art installation. They turned out to be the daughters of Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory and the one who first coined the term "butterfly effect", that our piece was inspired by!
Full video of the process and story of the installation below.
Materials
- Sculpture: Paper maché, plaster, newspaper, recycled household trash (egg cartons, cardboard boxes, etc.), chicken wire, foil
- Lighting: sunset lamp, EL wire, twist button lights
- Origami paper, pens, written instructions
- Hopes and dreams of many others
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Thank you to my collaborators, Iban (fellow member of Akiya Collective) and Culture House.