What other great way to spend some of the after hours at an exhibition for the last AIGA Mentor Group meeting? That’s exactly what Alyssa Low, our group mentor for this summer suggested to do for our last meeting. Even better, we went to The Happy Show at the Chicago Cultural Center by Stefan Sagmeister.
I am usually rather bored with definitions. Happiness, however, is just such a big subject that it might be worth a try to pin down.
– Stefan Sagmeister
So now, let’s sit back and go through the recap of the show, shall we?
Right when I stepped in to the show and turned left I saw a familiar dance movement and the unique dance custom for each of the dancer on one of video that was currently being played, Stefan’s video journey while he was in Bali, my home island. I knew I had to sit and watch this particular video.
The video started with his journey to find the meaning of happiness, from riding the motorcycle with low traffic in some of the streets in Bali (without a helmet which by the way are locally allowed as long as you don’t go to the main street or too far off from your home–though I’m pretty sure the traffic law in Indonesia won’t agree with this), to experiencing the super intense meditation group/course, and even experiencing how tasty that creamy yolk of a morning fried egg (I can really relate to that!).
It’s amazing how he joined the meditation group/course in Bali and bring a new idea of combining the traditional Balinese dance with his word making choreography to create the words: “MAKE”, “THE”, “FIRST”, “STEP.” Not only it amazes me on how he always think outside the box, but being on this Happy Show, it really did make me, happy.
Thank you for that, Stefan!
Top: Intro wall, the very first thing you’ll see when you step in to the show room, Bottom Left: the graphic of Happiness Around the World–lots of dots=lots of happiness, little dots=little happiness, Bottom Right: Stefan’s video of his every expressions.
Above: Happiness Pie Chart Table, how cool is that?
Top Left: Gumball Personal Happiness Survey, Top Right: Types of Love Infographic Wall
Top: Actually Doing Things I Set Out to Do Increases My Overall Level of Satisfaction (you will need to pedal slow and pedal long on the bike to make the red part of the text lighten up), Bottom Left: Me trying to pedal, Bottom Right: Me trying to pedal again and again and failed. Photo by: Sophia Savino
On the next room, we saw Stefan Sagmeister’s famous white monkeys Everybody Thinks They Are Right. Top: Those who made it to the last meeting (left to right: Sophia Savino, Alyssa Low, Rosemary Cha, and Ari Krzyzek-Me)
At the very beginning of the show, you’ll find a “disclaimer” that says The Happy Show Exhibition will NOT make you happier, but it did. And we had fun at our last mentor meeting. Thanks AIGA Chicago for making another Mentor Program happen and thanks Alyssa for leading the mentor group, it’s been really fun summer!
