- New data reveals that 70% of university students experience loneliness at least once a week at university

- Azar partners with UK artist Tess Smith-Roberts to curate empowering and uplifting art takeover across three university bathrooms in Birmingham, inspiring students in their safe space to connect with each other

- Students interacting with the art takeover will win tickets for an exclusive gig at University of Birmingham in January 2024

A survey commissioned by Azar and conducted by Censuswide interviewed Gen Z university students revealing 70% are impacted by loneliness at least once a week during their studies. Following the research results, social platform Azar launches an interactive art installation at Birmingham universities with the goal to bring students together and help them build meaningful connections on campus and through Azar’s app.

Azar is positioning its app as a tool to help students discover new ways of making friends. In the moments when life can feel overwhelming, particularly in social situations, data has revealed that 61% of students find escaping to the bathroom to be a comforting safe space to breathe and gather their thoughts. As part of their new campaign to target loneliness among students, Azar has partnered with UK-based illustrator Tess Smith-Roberts (https://www.instagram.com/tesssmithroberts) to curate a visually striking art mural takeover at the University of Birmingham’s bathrooms and smaller replicas of the artwork at Aston and Birmingham City Universities. The impactful artwork takeover will put a positive spin on the space, encouraging students to brave the day ahead with uplifting colours, words of affirmation and reassurance that they’re not alone in how they’re feeling.

Following research findings that three quarters of students find music concerts a favourable way to build human connection, students will be able to scan the QR code embedded in the artwork, download Azar to connect with new friends, and win tickets to an exclusive free performance at the University of Birmingham. Talking about the inspiration behind the art mural Tess Smith-Roberts added: “we wanted the bathroom, which can be a place of escape for young people, to be a positive space with uplifting illustrations. So I used my usual bright colours, bold shapes, and happy characters to do so. Hopefully, it will encourage people to engage with the artwork. Loneliness is a problem within young people that can be really difficult. Moving to university is scary and sometimes it can be hard to make friends. Even after uni, it can be really hard too. Making friends as an adult is a lot more challenging than when you are in school. I found university okay, but it was after university for me where I had these feelings of loneliness. It just takes time to find and make new friends sometimes - I’m hoping this project can help create some new friendships for people.”

Notes to Editors

Survey was commissioned by Azar and conducted by Census Wide (https://censuswide.com) interviewing 1,000 Gen Z university students. Additional exclusive data on this topic is available upon request.

For press enquiries contact azar@wearefullfat.com

About Azar

Azar is a real-time video communication platform launched in 2014, developed by a Korean-based IT company, Hyperconnect. Hyperconnect has successfully developed a variety of services that are based on video communication and artificial intelligence technology. The company is best known for its social discovery app “Azar”, which launched its live streaming service this year within the app that is rapidly gaining its popularity. Azar Live lets Azar users watch as a guest or host their own live streams.

Press Kit can be accessed here: (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1ofEHwyc4ZmydAhS6PLJhVYyggD8iUE2V)

Download Azar here: (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/azar-video-chat/id972558973?mt=8)

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