A new art project called The Waiting Wall is giving visitors to the Brighton train station in England something to stare at while waiting for a train besides their phones and fellow passengers: the anonymous confessions of fellow travelers and strangers on the Internet.
https://twitter.com/FreeTheTreesDev/status/646001660997861376The large billboard beckons waiting commuters to share secrets on a website (so people aren't just walking up to the screen and typing secrets for everyone to see) that will be displayed both online and in the train station's waiting area. The messages have since spread across news outlets and the Internet for their compelling and sometimes heartbreaking content.
https://twitter.com/thepooluk/status/646300462392569857https://twitter.com/guardian/status/645949091256664068Created by the electronic storytelling group Free The Trees, The Waiting Wall is part of this year's Brighton Digital Festival, which is going on right now in the English seaside town. Co-creator Alan Donohoe said the idea came to him while waiting for a train there himself, "It just struck me as the perfect place for it. There’s a strange feeling attached to waiting somewhere so busy, in such a transient place."
Is there anything more British than queuing up to wait for a delayed train after a beach trip to Brighton, and hiding your impatience by feigning interest in the completely raw yet politely anonymous confessions of strangers?
https://twitter.com/ClairePotter/status/642243991166173184https://twitter.com/aislingbrock/status/642235246663073792https://twitter.com/thewaitingwall/status/641310942303789056The name of the project is itself a reference to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, where pilgrims leave prayers stuck in between the stones of the ruined wall of an ancient temple. This is supposed to be a "secular, digital Wailing Wall."
https://twitter.com/thewaitingwall/status/641282383556276224https://twitter.com/thewaitingwall/status/640937138394124288Similarly, Donahoe hopes that leaving their private confessions at the Waiting Wall will help people remember that "We all have faults, make terrible mistakes and are haunted by things like lost love and personal failure. Acknowledging that you have problems worth sharing is still a big taboo in our society."
I mean, I TOTALLY didn't leave a secret and then feel much better afterwards. I am perfect. Yup. (I hope you enjoyed it, Brighton commuters.)