Participatory Design intervention for Emotional Awareness
March 6, 2026
Rodolfo Kusulas + Juanli Carrión
A Collaborative Ecosystem
Juanli Carrion
Rodolfo Kusulas
Johnson Public Library, Hackensack, NJ
A Collaborative Ecosystem
A constellation of partners bridging subjective human experience with creative civic infrastructure
Creators: Rodolfo + Juanli
ArtsBergen / NNJCF,
Funders: Bergen County + NJ State Council on the Arts. + Alfred N. Sanzari Family Foundation.
Advisors in psychology & somatic therapy
Research Community participants
Partners:
Johnson Public Library, HackensackDept. of Health, Bergen Makerspace, HackensackStigma Free, The Things NetworkNY
Collective participation of community
How do emotions live in the body?
Project foundations - Exploring Somatic Visualizations
Many individuals struggle to identify where and how emotions manifest somatically, leading to a disconnect between feeling and awareness.
Visualizing emotions as heatmaps or body maps can help bridge this gap, making emotional states more tangible and understandable.
Emotions are not only mental experiences but also deeply rooted in physical sensations within the body.
The Mind–Body Disconnection
Project foundations - Stress points
Mind and Body Disconnection
Growing Mental Health Crisis
Emotional Literacy Gap
Lackof emotional tools & Stigma
Senseeing: Self Awareness Tools
Interoceptive Kit
Emotional Autopsy Report
A Visual Language of Emotions
Findings were Powerful but Difficult to Scale
How can this intimate somatic method reach entire communities independently and voluntarily to foster collective emotional awareness?
From Guided Tools to a Participatory Atlas
A Public Intervention for Emotional Awareness
An accessible touchpoint for mental health awareness and against stigma where participants visualize emotions, learn about the mind-body connection, and access local health resources.
Pilot Installation: Johnson Public Library, Hackensack, NJ.
The Neural Landscape
The is informed by fMRI studies from the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. Researchers identified "neural fingerprints" forspontaneous emotional states, proving that emotions are dynamic, measurable physical states with distinct reactions in both body and brain.
The Neural Landscape
Public Art as Emotional Infrastructure
Participatory Ritual
● The installation invites community members to actively engage in mapping their emotions.
● This shared activity creates a ritualistic space that fosters emotional expression and presence.
● Participation transforms private feelings into a collective, embodied practice.
Individual Community Reflection and Collective Visualization
● Emotional data from participants forms a dynamic map reflecting the community’s emotional landscape.
● This visualization encourages empathy by revealing shared emotional patterns and differences.
● The installation acts as a living archive of communal emotional states, promoting ongoing dialogue and care.
Public Art as Emotional Infrastructure
Potential Future
○ Improved Interfase + richer visualization + live resources
○ Creating visual tools fortherapy and case pattern tracking.
○ Participatory emotional and urban mapping in cities. - Structures of Feeling
○ Direct collaborations with hospitals and public health institutions.
○ Generating embodied emotion datasets forresearch.
Bergen New Bridge
A not-for-profit safety net facility, provides high-quality comprehensive services, including care from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and community physicians. (In Paramus N.J. with 7 locations)
What changes when emotions become visible?
…we can transform our communities into living maps of empathy and care.