Satisfactionaction

A collective media meditation: coloured foam is gently sliced into disks, a dirty carpet gets a thorough deep clean, a hydraulic press crushes a variety of objects. Pointless processes, absurd repetitions, one-size-fits-all automations: they all trigger a sense of contentment and wellbeing in us as a counterpoint to an increasingly complex reality. “Oddly Satisfying” is the name given to an internet phenomenon that forms the focus of SATISFACTIONACTION, an installation that has attracted millions of views on multiple platforms. Most of us are familiar with the odd sense of comfort afforded by day-to-day routine actions. Suddenly everything jells, luggage fits snugly into the car boot, the train is caught calmly with a minute to spare, the blackhead is discreetly squeezed. What is it that gives us that warm feeling and what lengths are we prepared to go to to bring it about? Do these hard-to-define mechanisms function only on an innocent neuronal level or is there a social element at play involving norms of behaviour, success and failure, belonging and exclusion? And are these deep-seated needs not also met by our schadenfreude at the plight of an irritating colleague or by our membership of a group, which automatically implies the exclusion of others?

In SATISFACTIONACTION the gratification is both felt on an individual level and celebrated communally, with the public immersed in a multisensory experience. It also poses the question: can a transparently escapist, communal moment counterbalance a permanent feeling of crisis and pressure? Does communal satisfaction provide the basis for agreeing on a new understanding of reality, or is it just us running away from a world on fire?