Week 15: Pooneh & Joana

Pooneh & Joana's update

Voulez-vous couchez avec moi?
A study of scent in co sleeping & an offer of comfort

Purpose of the Project:  
To determine whether it is possible to achieve feelings of comfort and abandonment through sense of smell.
To send a gift of comfort to New York City.

Required items (for study):

1. An ad or a written statement to explain the purpose of research in order to attract interested participants
2. 11 volunteer participants
3. 3 sachets made of fabric (we’ll rotate them)
4. Participant packets: T-shirt, self-addressed envelope, zip lock bag, sheet of instructions, form of demographics (gender, relationship status, age)
5. Survey for X

Duration of Study:
60 days

Brief Summary:
This project explores the role of smell during co sleeping in determining happiness.  

For those who seek amorous relationships, there are many joys to be had but we each vary in what brings us joy, maybe it’s the initial adventures, or the long, intimate conversations, maybe it’s the sex. For many, the simple, animal comfort of sharing a bed with someone you love is not at the top of the list. And how do we find mates? Besides looks and Tinder profiles, smell is increasingly thought to mediate who we make connections with. Research into the microbiome and genetics hint at the subtlety of this mechanism in finding suitable mates. Sense Dating already investigates the role of smell in dating directly, where women chose a partner based on the scent of their clothes.  

It’s our thought that the comfortable togetherness of co sleeping is a key component of how relationships build feelings of happiness and connection - and that this bond goes beyond sexual relationships.  Be it for economic reasons (beds and bedrooms are expensive), emotional or physical safety or just for warmth, humans tend to not sleep alone. We’re interested in bottling the scent of co sleeping and examining its role in feelings of happiness and connection. How comforting is it to sleep with another person? Does it matter who it is? Does it matter whether they have a compatible sexual orientation? Is it better to sleep with someone than sleeping alone?

This project will take on two expressions: one closer to science and the other closer to art.

1. The study
11 male and female participants will be recruited - one of whom will be the tester. 10 participants will sleep with a provided T-shirt for three nights and mail it in. These participants should not alter their daily routine - bathing and using deodorants as normal. Each T-shirt will be packed into a breathable sachets.  

A tester participant will then place the small pillowcases on her pillow while she sleeps for three nights. The tester will record existing feelings and thoughts on subjects such as mood, emotion, memory, state of relaxation, performance level at work and etc before, during and after the experiment.

Process

• An ad will be placed on Facebook seeking participants.
• All participants will be sent the needed materials.
• Participants would be asked to sleep with a T-shirt for 3 nights.  They should not alter their daily routine in any way except that they should not share their bed with another person.  At the end of the period, they would place the T-shirt in the ziplock bag and mail it back.
• Each shirt will be sewn into a small, breathable pillow.  
• The tester will sleep with each pillow for three nights.  After each cycle, X will have three nights off.
• X will record her mood, quality of sleep and productivity each morning and night.
• The team will examine the results to confirm whether the tester felt better in general when not sleeping “alone” and whether some smells had more effect than others.

Sample Ad:
Why do we sleep with other people?  How comforting is it to sleep with another person?  

We need you to SLEEP!  Looking for volunteer participants for a three-day art study to determine whether the sense of smell can affect work performance and mood.

Eligible participants will be asked to sleep with a new T-shirt for three nights and mail it in.  A female subject will sleep with a small pillow made from each T-shirt and record how the experience affects (or not) her mood and quality of sleep.

(To be posted on Facebook.)

2) The gift

New York City is a city of strangers and encounters, of Tinder dates and flash mobs, in a time of increased tension and division. Joana will prepare a set of scent pillows to be placed around the city. These pillows intend to bring comfort to anyone who choses to pick them up and take them home to sleep.

Process

• Joana and voluntary participants will sleep with a T-shirt for 3 nights. They should not alter their daily routine in any way except that they should not share their bed with another person. At the end of the period, they would place the T-shirt in the ziplock bag and mail it back.
• Each shirt will be sewn into a small, breathable pillow.  
• Each pillow will be placed in a public location around New York City to be freely picked up by anyone who would like some company.
• The pillows will carry a message encouraging anyone who does pick up the pillow to respond with a photo or a Tweet about their experience.