The Four Temperaments of Man

The internet facilitates a considerable amount of emotional expression, whether it be through blogs, chat rooms or social networking sites. This piece interrogates such emotional openness by juxtaposing the ancient theory of humourism (the belief that man has four essential emotional states) with modern emoticons (internet-based symbols used to convey emotion such as the smiley face used in text messaging). Though humourism and its corresponding temperaments are now seen as archaic oversimplifications, does our digital world prove any more effective at conveying the multivalency of human emotion?

This project invites users to explore emotional expression in the digital age. On entering the space, the user is presented with a giant, life-size emoticon flanked by four test tubes. These tubes contain the four liquid humours (blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm) each of which is associated with an emotional temperament (sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic). Users can alter the balance of humours in the emoticon and observe as its emotions change accordingly. Video and audio compliment these changes.

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