What would you say if you didn’t know who was listening?

Message in a Bottle is an interactive installation that invites participants to send an anonymous message out into a shared “sea” and receive one in return.

Visitors encounter a physical object marked with a QR code, which leads them to a simple web interface. There, they are prompted to compose a message. A confession, a wish, a poem, a thought left unfinished. Once submitted, their message is released into a database and they relinquish control over where it goes, or who will find it. In exchange, a message from a previous participant “washes ashore,” printed as a tangible object for them to keep.

Each message exists digitally only until it is received. Once delivered, it is deleted from the system and lives on solely as a physical artifact. The piece resists archiving, moderation, or authorship, creating a space of trust, risk, and vulnerability for both the user and the system itself.

By limiting each participant to a single exchange, the interaction becomes intimate rather than performative. Users know their message came from someone else in the space, but not who. This anonymity introduces mystery, projection, and the possibility of connection beyond the interface.

This interaction asks: What would you say if you didn’t know who was listening? What does it feel like to surrender control over how your words are received? Will the energy you put into the world come back to you?

The project explores anonymity, vulnerability, and the emotional weight of letting something go, transforming a fleeting digital interaction into a quiet, physical moment of exchange.

Presented at the ITP/IMA/Low Res Spring Show 2025 in Brooklyn, NY