Pressure Drop

The City of London’s Release the Pressure campaign was launched in the summer of 2017, designed to help City workers and residents open up about mental health challenges and to ’release the pressure’ that builds as a result of work and life stresses. Dragon Café in the City builds on this initiative – giving people a physical space to unwind and release the pressure.

Output Arts present two installations for Dragon Café in the City, viewable and listenable within Shoe Lane Library from February to July 2018. The first, Soak, is a playful sound installation that uses a bath full of rubber ducks as a symbol of relaxation, featuring the sounds of running water and splashing in a bath. This intervention in the library space acts as a talking point to encourage visitors to talk about what they do to release pressure.

Building on the conversations started by Soak, the second sound installation, Pressure Drop, features the voices of library users talking about their own approaches to relieving stress. These voices are accessed through a pair of copper pipe installations in the library.

Dragon Café in the City is a collaboration between Mental Fight Club, Shoe Lane Library, Business Healthy, the City of London Corporation and Output Arts, and was funded as part of Engaging Libraries by Wellcome and Carnegie UK Trust.