One of the most common thoughts that we highlight about public space is that it defines an intersection of spatial and bodily movements while we, as people, encounter and perceive each other, and experience commons and events around us differently in urban and/or man-made physical setting. In the process of thinking about this definition, it is also important to unfold how the cooperation between people and spaces reflects itself in form of communication. This communication has multiple, complex, interconnected layers that showcase different social engagements, activated memories, provoked perceptions in new common experiences.

On the other hand, as we move in a spectrum of spatial contexts in daily life, from intimate space to personal space, personal space to social space, social space to public space, or with various other combinations, the transitions and relationships between them carve powerful impact on the formation of our thoughts. Eventually, the sensory interactions we are in during these cycles differentiate specific personal events in shared bubbles of participation. Our sensors transfer spatial storytelling coming from unique sources, and modifications coming from the received information. Through the sensory network, in public space, we shape our understanding of surroundings in a socially inclusive and non-restrictive setting. At the same time, our bodies become intimate spaces where we go through consensual processes. All happen in a multidimensional sense with many connections and transformations, as it is a network full of nodes, or a living organism. And, when this network of events has an unexpected cut in its processing, public space can become a battleground of conflicts.

As we have been experiencing the reality of social distance since the pandemic started, our social participation in public space has become disturbed due to conflicts that occurred. Under this restrictive setting, social distance and spatial distance have set questions that our sensory world awaits, such as:

1- How do we perceive distance spatially, how do we respond to it and how do we share it?                                         2- What kind of phases do we pass for communicating as distant figures towards each other?

This research idea has been conceptualized as an artistic research-based outcome during Open Design Course (ODC) Lab Version 4.0. It consists of both digital and physical phases that collaborate within the scope of visualizing “distance” collectively through our senses. Especially, considering the operation of measuring distance is a group of data coming from signals and a specific environment, this research tries to create alternative thinking, especially, about the perception of it. It questions how distance might visually appear and how we communicate with it. While opening the discussion through public space, the core of this research relies on individual understanding of re-imagining the visuality of distance.