Växla ner!
Växla ner (Gearing down) is a conversation piece in the form of a mechanical and interactive game that explores how design can create slower and more attention-demanding interactions in a society shaped by efficiency, automation, and instant gratification. The work is based on questions of how tempo affects human behaviour and what may be lost when bodily participation and human presence are reduced in encounters with technology and designed objects.
The game is designed as one of several interactive works in a wandering exhibition that aims to encourage reflection on contemporary societal challenges. The exhibition addresses a broad audience of different ages and backgrounds, enabling multiple perspectives on how tempo, technological development, values, and cultural structures are understood and experienced across generations.
The game is based on hidden mechanisms such as camshafts and gears, often associated with efficiency and speed. Through cranking, the participant is led through extended, hand-driven sequences where progression requires presence and bodily participation. Friction, gear transmission and delayed feedback are used to create a slower tempo. The game builds an expectation of reward, but this expectation is gradually shifted through the pace of the interaction from outcome to the act of doing. The game concludes with a capsule containing reflective questions on design, tempo, behaviour, and society, rather than offering a fixed answer.