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defining a space
reactions
unbuilding
The red ribbon flying in the wind. Is it a border? If it can be considered as a border, how does it affect people? What is the difference between being inside and outside? The main interest was thus to examine the ways by which an established multiuser place can be disturbed. We went on to see if just the red ribbon flying in the wind is enough.
Line rising
On a sunny and ice-cold Thursday morning in February we went to the market
place at Kauppatori. Our border was a minimalistic one. It was made using
film stands and small red-white ribbon which was tied between the stands.
It was tied high so that it was easy to walk under it. The wind and the
cold made the building of the border rather slow. For the people at Kauppatori;
sellers, buyers and passers-by the construction already in itself was
a performance. The border was marked with in/out signs. As a gesture of
welcoming we laid down on to the ground carpets.
Line-e(a)ffects
The reactions for the fence were of three kinds. There were those people
who were just ignoring the whole thing and using the marketplace as are
used to. Some reacted strongly against it it was considered as disturbing.
Either disturbing the business or disturbing in itself: "Somebody is doing
serious work, some are doing just art". There were also reactions for
the fence: "When are you going to build it again?", "Can I take a photo
of it?"
Our experiment was succesful. What else could you do at eight in the morning in the middle of winter than construct a border at Kauppatori. It was surprising that only a red ribbon flying in the wind was enough in creating a feeling of a border. Either being INside it as in a prison or being left OUTside of something. Thus a border, a fence can be mentally strong and offending - even if it physically just a light metaphor of a border.
Joseph Kiberu - Karoliina Talvitie-Lamberg
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Kate Borcz - Marianne
Decoster-Taivalkoski
Medialab 2002, MultiUserSystem Interaction Design Workshop