Digital Everyday Life as an Experiential Environment, 2025

“The digital world is a new and exotic state of consciousness in which we lose our sense of time and sink into a deep hibernation, much like creatures overwintering. What is most magical about this state is the experience of being together. Unlike hibernating bears, however, we are able to communicate with others of our kind while in this dormant state, and this social interaction can take place even across oceans and continents.”

Student, Otaniemi Upper Secondary School, 2025

What moves you in this moment?

Each finger is a unique presence, carrying the trace of an individual life. Art invites us to pause and observe. At Viherlaakso School, In Touch offers an entry point into a participatory artwork composed of 254 casts of young people’s fingers in acrylic resin, accompanied by light and a soundscape.

The work was developed during my term as the City of Espoo’s Artist of the Year 2025 as part of the project Young People – The Formation of Sensory Sensitivity and Experientiality in Digital Everyday Life. The project evolved into an interdisciplinary whole in which artistic practice, weekly workshops, participatory processes, and research-oriented inquiry intersected.

Participatory artwork
Art- Research project

Plaster, metal, plywood,Participatory artwork Saana Wang together with 9th-grade students. Comission by City of Espoo

“Embodiment is an integral part of being human. Facial expressions, tone of voice, touch and gestures have a profound influence on how we behave towards one another, yet these elements are absent in digital interaction. Connections are formed without any real experience of how the other person actually behaves in physical life. I find this very strange.

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I have noticed that many people have a completely different personality online. They may be extremely shy and quiet in physical life, while in digital environments they are hardly afraid at all to speak with strangers. For many people, the internet may therefore function as a kind of ‘safe space’ in which they can be themselves without an overwhelming fear of being judged”

Student, Viherlaakso Lower Secondary School, 2025

In Touch,Participatory
artwork, 2025

“A friendship can remain active even when people do not see one another often, and if they live far apart, social media makes it possible to see friends and stay in contact with them. Social media can also lead to new friendships, and online friendships can sometimes be more genuine and meaningful than face-to-face relationships. Digital communication can also present challenges: it can strengthen a friendship when it is used appropriately to maintain contact, but weaken it when it replaces genuine interaction.

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There is a difference between experiencing the world directly in nature and seeing it through a screen. Looking at the world through a screen can distort many things, such as colours and small details. If you experience the world exclusively through a screen, you cannot become fully immersed in it. The sounds and colours of nature are things everyone should experience; they cannot truly be experienced through a screen. In nature, you see, smell, hear and feel your surroundings. Nature evokes a sense of calm.”

Student, Viherlaakso Lower Secondary School, 2025