Embodiment
Through lectures and case studies, we began to understand embodiment as more than simply having a virtual body or a first-person viewpoint. Embodiment is constructed through design decisions such as where the participant is placed, how freely they can move, what actions they are allowed to perform, and what actions are deliberately restricted. These bodily conditions directly influence how relationships, power dynamics, and emotions are perceived.
This framework was particularly relevant to our project, which is organised around a wedding and its spatial layout. Different wedding spaces naturally produce different embodied states: guests move freely at the entrance, feel confined in dressing rooms or backstage areas, and are physically positioned and regulated during the ceremony. These bodily experiences communicate social roles and expectations without the need for explicit narrative explanation.
Embodiment also encouraged us to rethink character perspective. Rather than explicitly assigning a role, physical positioning and agency can imply identity. Being placed at the edge of a space, limited to observation, can convey exclusion or lack of agency, while being positioned at the centre and addressed directly can create a sense of responsibility and expectation.
Within the context of our project, this approach offered a new way to express the mother–daughter relationship and the themes of care and letting go. Instead of relying on symbolic dialogue or narrative explanation, we began to consider how the participant’s body could be guided, constrained, or entrusted within the space. These embodied experiences allow emotional dynamics to be felt rather than explained.
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