participations

Some observations on participations in the everyday

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Today at Lululemon, a call for participation. And yet, a refusal of participation as this well-known blackboard was behind the window, rendering it inaccessible. So what purpose does it serve? A space to project aspiration? A nod to the zeitgeist?  When you leave a space like this up for people participate, the critique or undermining of the intention is also invited. Interesting observations can be made when one observes the unintended aspects of participation.

 

 

 

I have seen the blackboard participation used in pretty much the same format for the invitation of “Before I die…” . This turns the focus to aging and an attempt to put a positive spin on it. The open forum still results in unpredictable and uncontrollable responses.

 

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Unintended Participations

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Sometimes a call for help or advice given: participation and aloneness

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Attempts at participation are everywhere. But so what. Sometimes.

Two Encounters in Canberra

1. The first was the participatory exhibition at the Old Parliament House. Perhaps as a consolation of the failings of democracy, people were allowed, invited rather, to write their opinions in chalk, crayon and pen on three different paper surfaces. My personal favourites were ‘poop’, which also appeared in another part of the exhibition (only on paper too, unfortunately) and ‘cheese’ with some booby eyes.

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2. The second, was the ‘Vinyl Lounge’ at the National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA), on campus at ANU, and handily located only minutes from our hotel room on a cold Canberra night. Held in the theatrette, you can buy your wine, chips and popcorn and head in to browse the noteworthy vinyl collection, or play a song from one you’ve brought in. Such warmth, joy and inclusivity of participation. An elderly couple played something from The Glen Miller Band, a woman by herself paid respects to B.B. King, and another played an awesome cover of the classic Chisel, Forever Now. So free of pretense, and so full of respect for others songs and anecdotes, we wondered what conditions could make such an event a success. An event where participation could be enjoyed on any level you felt comfortable with, even if it was just eating the exceedingly salty popcorn and drinking wine from plastics.

 25 April, 2015

Mass Observation: Today I visited the archive in Brighton that keeps all the Mass Observation documents. Volunteers observed their own lives; writing diaries, recording specific days, answering questionnaires. I read a selection of dreams from 1937, letters from 1941 and news clippings from the origin of the projects. There was a fee to take photos. I didn’t want to pay so I took these while no one was watching.

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