‘Wandering among the many reading areas inside the Library of Congress in Washington DC, an unknowing visitor might stumble upon a room with an uncomfortable climate. This is likely ‘The American Standard Room Temperature Room’ which, in an ideal world, would be set to a standard 68 degrees Fahrenheit but is often much colder come January and much warmer in July. These temperature fluctuations reflect the average environment of the American living room at any given moment based on readings from sensors across the nation (the specific locations of which are a closely guarded secret). A heat wave will make the room unbearably hot. A winter storm that knocks out power in the Midwest may lower the temperature to near freezing.
‘The American Standard Room Temperature Room’ is a concept piece by artist Julian Rocio who created it as a meditation on empathy. Though ‘The Room’s’ temperatures do sometimes swing high and low it is always habitable in the short term, and rarely even notably uncomfortable upon entry. The room’s programming is based on national averages, after all, and at least some of the data points are from climate-controlled dwellings.
The trick of ‘The American Standard Room Temperature Room’ is that it looks no different than any other on-site reading room. Patrons normally find their way inside accidentally and as they read or research it’s Rocio’s intention that they become aware of their discomfort very, very slowly. Cold hands. Sweat under the collar. A near-total inability to find perfect comfort and a level of discomfort that doesn’t quite warrant leaving the room. It is a princess-and-the-pea style revenge experience at the center of the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, where some of America’s most privileged might tread.
-an excerpt, Autumn by the Wayside
