What is love? KISK Summer School 2022

The theme of digital memory and capturing emotions is somehow important to me. I use digital artifacts for this. They're easy to share, simple to revisit, and I have this feeling that they won't get lost as easily as a photo or a sketchbook.

This is a description of a micro-project that isn't particularly interesting from a technical standpoint, but it's a sweet little thing.

At KISK Summer School, Lea decided to go around to all the participants and ask them quite simply: "What is love?" I'm still not entirely sure what her intention was. But I'm convinced that the environment in which it took place lent itself to a light magic.

Summer is beginning, the semester is ending, you're in beautiful nature, somewhat cut off from the world. Around you are forests and high cliffs, a river murmurs. There are friends here, or at least people with whom you share a few common interests. And you're spending a whole week here. I wouldn't dare claim whether some kind of self-reflection happens here, but relaxation certainly does. And then someone asks you: "What is love?"

The collected answers are cheerful, funny, a bit philosophical, loving, brief and extensive, some perhaps slightly bitter. I don't remember exactly how it all happened and who approached whom, but Lea and I agreed to create a digital artifact and immortalize the answers by releasing them into the internet.

Technology

Now for the less poetic part. Lea prepared graphics in Canva, and I put together a simple website where you can view the answers. Nicely one after another, similar to when you walk around to individual people. Just a bit of HTML, CSS, and simple JavaScript. We added chirping birds to the background. And that's it.

The project is available on GitHub and is also hosted on GitHub Pages. Happy browsing.