/notes from behind the table/
This project evolved across few participatory formats.
In each, people were invited to reflect and visualise on how they communicate
This project evolved across few
participatory formats.
In each, people were invited to reflect
and visualise on how they communicate
/project components/
This project began from a question:
How can we navigate conversations where disagreement might arise?
Through a series of workshops, interviews, and experiments,
I explored the shape of tone—
how it holds space,
how it shifts between people,
and how it might be visualised.
The process started with action research:
designing interventions to explore what makes difficult conversations feel stuck,
and how preconceptions, habits, or silence shape the way we relate.
Gradually,
instead of asking what people think,
I began to ask how they sound—
and how that sound feels.
In the latest version of the workshop,
I invited participants to build a metaphorical “menu” of their communication,
then create 3D collage based on it.
Each shape is a translation.
a form of something not yet spoken,
but quietly present.
/about the project/
這個計畫從一個提問開始：
當感知到對話中可能出現的分歧時，我們該如何前進？
透過一連串的工作坊、訪談與實驗，
我開始探索「語氣的形狀」——
它如何佔據空間、
如何在人與人之間移動、
又是否能被具象呈現。
從行動研究開始：
設計各種行動方案，試著理解那些讓對話卡住的時刻，
以及我們的預設、習慣或沉默，
是如何影響彼此的關係。
慢慢地，
我不再只問「你怎麼想？」
而是開始問——
「你聽起來是什麼樣子？」
「那樣的語氣，感覺如何？」
在最新的工作坊中，
我邀請參與者打造一份隱喻式的「語氣菜單」，
並依此創作一件立體拼貼作品。
每一個形狀，都是一種轉譯。
來自那些尚未說出口、
卻一直靜靜存在的東西。
This project began from a question:
How can we navigate conversations
where disagreement might arise?
Through a series of workshops, interviews, and experiments,
I explored the shape of tone—
how it holds space,
how it shifts between people,
and how it might be visualised.
The process started with action research:
designing interventions to explore what makes
difficult conversations feel stuck,
and how preconceptions, habits,
or silence shape the way we relate.
Gradually,
instead of asking what people think,
I began to ask how they sound—
and how that sound feels.
In the latest version of the workshop,
I invited participants to build a metaphorical “menu”
of their communication,
then create 3D collage based on it.
Each shape is a translation.
a form of something not yet spoken,
but quietly present.
這個計畫從一個提問開始：
當感知到對話中可能出現的分歧時，我們該如何前進？
透過一連串的工作坊、訪談與實驗，
我開始探索「語氣的形狀」——
它如何佔據空間、
如何在人與人之間移動、
又是否能被具象呈現。
從行動研究開始：
設計各種行動方案，試著理解那些讓對話卡住的時刻，
以及我們的預設、習慣或沉默，
是如何影響彼此的關係。
慢慢地，
我不再只問「你怎麼想？」
而是開始問——
「你聽起來是什麼樣子？」
「那樣的語氣，感覺如何？」
在最新的工作坊中，
我邀請參與者打造一份隱喻式的「語氣菜單」，
並依此創作一件立體拼貼作品。
每一個形狀，都是一種轉譯。
來自那些尚未說出口、
卻一直靜靜存在的東西。
IRIS LIN RESEARCH PROJECT
/the table: the shape of tone/
2025
/the table: the shape of tone/
2025
那會是什麼樣的感受？
你會擺上什麼？
你願意放進什麼？
形狀總有差異，
卻也能拼在一起，
組成某種模樣
那會是什麼樣的感受？
你會擺上什麼？
你願意放進什麼？
形狀總有差異，
卻也能拼在一起，
組成某種模樣
How would it feel?
What would you serve?
What would you offer?
Not all shapes align.
Still, they make a plate.
Imagined Dishes (Digital Menu + AI Visualisation)
Imagined Dishes
(Digital Menu + AI Visualisation)
Collage Table (Japan Workshop)
3D Felt Collage (London Workshop)
Participants began by filling out a menu.
Each menu was then translated into surreal food images
using AI — a speculative visualisation of their tone.
Participants began by filling out a menu.
Each menu was then translated into
surreal food images using AI
— a speculative visualisation of their tone.
In Shimoda,
participants were invited to sit, pause, and play.
With only paper and crayon,
they visualised their tone without needing to explain.
In Shimoda,
participants were invited to sit, pause, and play.
With only paper and crayon,
they visualised their tone
without needing to explain.
Here, the tone menu returned —
but this time, participants shaped it with their hands.
Here, the tone menu returned —
but this time, participants shaped it
with their hands.
This project is not just about what was made, but how we arrived there.
As both a researcher and a maker, I moved between listening and shaping.
What surfaced was often surprising:
a moment of quiet resonance,
a gesture that revealed more than a sentence,
Each iteration taught me how people relate to themselves,
to their tone, and to each other.
This project is not just about what was made,
but how we arrived there.
As both a researcher and a maker,
I moved between listening and shaping.
What surfaced was often surprising:
a moment of quiet resonance,
a gesture that revealed more than a sentence,
Each iteration
taught me how people relate to themselves,
to their tone, and to each other.
/this table is still being set/
This is an ongoing project —
each workshop is a menu in progress.
I’m currently looking for:
new spaces to host a tone-table
communities interested in exploring their ways of speaking
collaborators who want to co-create new forms (online menus? zines? site-specific interventions?)
If this resonates with you,
come talk to me.
Let’s set a table together.
This is an ongoing project —
each workshop is a menu in progress.
I’m currently looking for:
new spaces to host a tone-table
communities interested in exploring their ways of speaking
collaborators who want to co-create new forms
If this resonates with you,
come talk to me.
Let’s set a table together.
This is an ongoing project —
each workshop is a menu in progress.
I’m currently looking for:
new spaces to host a tone-table
communities interested in exploring
their ways of speaking
collaborators who want to co-create
new forms
If this resonates with you,
come talk to me.
Let’s set a table together.
This project is part of my narrative work series.
← Return to all stories
This project is part of my narrative work series.
← Return to all stories