Happy Pills: Rx of Modern Coping

Happy Pills is an interactive art project that explores the many ways people cope with the challenges of being human. Presented through the familiar visual language of prescription medication, the project transforms everyday sources of comfort, relief, connection, and escape into fictional pharmaceutical products.

The experience begins with a short cinematic commercial that examines the universal search for happiness and emotional relief. Viewers are then invited into an interactive digital medicine cabinet containing a collection of prescription bottles, each representing a different coping mechanism. Some bottles symbolize healthy forms of comfort, such as music, exercise, family, pets, and creativity, while others explore more complicated forms of escape, including alcohol, social media, shopping, and other modern distractions.

Each bottle includes dosage instructions, warnings, side effects, and artist notes that encourage reflection rather than judgment. By presenting both socially accepted and socially stigmatized behaviors through the same visual framework, the project asks viewers to consider what they reach for when life feels difficult, uncertain, lonely, or overwhelming.

The project was created using a hybrid workflow that combines original photography with generative AI. Every component of the cinematic introduction, including the script, narration, music, sound design, imagery, and video sequences was produced or enhanced using AI tools and then edited together with daVinci Resolve into a cohesive commercial. The interactive website itself was developed through AI-assisted "vibe coding," using conversational prompts to generate, refine, and build the site's HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and overall user experience. Rather than replacing artistic intent, AI served as a creative collaborator throughout the design and production process. *

Through this combination of photography, generative AI, storytelling, and interactive design, Happy Pills invites a simple but deeply personal question:

"If everyone has a bottle, which one is yours?"

Niki B.

*AI: Claude, ChatGPT, Kling, Runway, Higgsfield, Adobe Firefly, MidJourney, Suno and ElevenLabs.