Making and Enacting Possible Futures: Sandquery As a Vehicle For Embodied Interaction

So much of the world is out of control; it can be overwhelming, terrifying or beautiful. Though chaotic emotions are often difficult to share, creative expression can be a vehicle for understanding and communicating these emotions. “Sandplay is one of many creative therapies to use an expressive form of communication” (Malchiodi, 2005). Sandquery is a kinesthetic method for generative design research that is adapted from Sandplay, a method of psychotherapy. Future-based prompts given to participants are summarized to illustrate Sandquery’s potential for creative embodied interactions that inform design and emotion. In addition, my research with Enactavision, a virtual variation of Sandquery, seeks to advance current knowledge and understanding of the intertwined relationship between motion and emotion.