Discovery Day: Memories, Wishes, Graffiti

So today with Theresa and Jason and Michelle was interesting...they went on a sensory walk through the park, noticing things, listening, feeling. They came back talking about texture, Theresa focussing micro on tiny unfolding leaves and mutant rosebushes, Michelle commenting on the flatness of the water and sky, feeling lucky to have such a space in the city, not yet encrusted with concrete...

The idea is to create memories tied to specific places in the park, specific feelings- cold and warm, mosquitoes, interacting with children and homeless guys, that we can pull up for either storytelling or movement vocab later. Enriching with memory so we feel connected to the space itself- creating our own history within it.

We also went on a rather elongated wish collecting spree, getting wishes written onto little price tags and attaching them to the trees. We encountered all sorts of obvious resistance, and plenty of participation as well. It felt like it could really go far, especially with accumulated effect of seeing other people's participation. Many were suspicious of us and perhaps would get more involved if allowed to do it themselves in their own time and way, instead of dictating to one of us.
It does make the tree look cool. I will return later today just to see what remains.
Top wishes for kids= candy, .....fairy
Top wishes for adults= money, world peace.

This also makes me think about sculptures whose job is to be destroyed/altered by people.

We did some chalk graffiti on the bridge (No.........ing)

There is something cool about collecting buckets of river water. Extreme!

Lunch time definitely is high traffic and plenty of soldiers (bitches) of fitness

We seem to have decided to use hammer in signs along the cement wall/walkway to tell a story that can be read in both directions.

I want to get a dancer to walk up the bridge (South to North) slowly in red (Jodie?) laying down a red line. Then centre lines become a going concern throughout. north/south, rich/poor, past/present, bad/good, young/old etc...

I like Jason getting trapped in the web. Need to figure out where...

Also need cardboard signs to hang on us.
I am thinking/wondering about some fake fantasy signage in the bushes...
Coming soon!
check out http://www.timetchells.com/

and I am really looking forward to Shawn coming!!! There is lots of potential for sound input, from banging on the bridge, to ghetto blasters at the picnic table with the 3 bears, to some sort of chimes on the chain link fence, to a song for Michelle around the stone bridge that sets it all up.
I have walkie talkies and we will all have a story we could tell. Sound for the canoe to go with Michelle...Acoustic instruments? I looked up bridge music and of course got the musical definition of bridge, which is transitional in structure.

Interesting video

Happenings

With Kat, Theresa and Jason today we found a few things that caught interest:
1. a red crepe paper streamer tied to the bridge at its midpoint. 25 metres long. lovely

2. Kat on the rocks washing clothes and spreading them out. in red. installation-type

Things that didn't work:
-dropping dandelions
-person in white in tree
-person in parallel installation on S side of river in white (too receeded and competes with red)

Thoughts:
person in Tree needs tree talk text (theresa working on lung associations)
crepe paper finish line and cheering for joggers and runners is funny
bucket to gather water (25 m string)
Person who only walks on rocks. Another sets and moves them...
anything x 50 people would work. A choir? A school? Volunteers?
Return of the people balancing branches on their heads
Return of the deer in the bush

bears at the picnic table (perhaps before and after)
red,red,red
bikes
golfcarts

Signs or stickers:
No Spitting
No Loitering
No Talking
No Running
No Stopping
No Washing
No Climbing
No Watching
No Dancing
No Stripping
No Fighting
No Drinking
No Eating
No Trespassing
No Returning
No Asking
etc....

the yarnbombing idea was just ok looking- kind of messy and weak...
Now is the time to get some sound and text integrated...