THE PROJECT:

Me and my partner in crime(s of awesomeness) are incubating plans to hatch some interactive art onto the streets of Sydney. The application for this grant is part of a birthday present for the said partner :)

Put pithily, our project will involve fixing a “sentence starter” (made from cheap purchased lettering) onto a wall frequented by pedestrians, followed by a blackboard and chalk for people to finish the sentence off in whichever way they choose. Users may even choose to respond in pictures rather than in words.

Being dreamers, we envisage this project to eventuate in plural, but for now we are doing our best to play realists and would love a little kick start from your foundation to take our first instance of it out of our multidimensional daydreams and into everyday 3D life.

Our first installation will make appropriate use of the “A” word, with the sentence starter being “You are awesome because…”

Our sentence starters will in essence be based on “positive affirmations” . For example, “Smile because…” or “Today I will…” etc.

But our street art will avoid the cheesefactor experienced in the viewing of motivational posters and the like by being cloaked in a kind of coolness deemed suitable to the tastes of the hipsters of our times.

IT'S AWESOME BECAUSE:

Even those that don’t put chalk to blackboard are more than likely to finish the sentence in their heads. In this way, the project has the potential to inspire positive thoughts in all passers by. But who doesn’t appreciate their walk towards the daily grind being made that little bit more interesting?

The use of a blackboard links to ideas of old school teaching (see “chalk and talk” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chalk+and+talk). We see anyone and everyone as a potential teacher who has important messages to share with others.

Its temporary nature ~ we feel the element of transience, spontaneity, being “in the moment” and non-attachment adds appeal. But users could always photograph their masterpieces if they wish to hold onto them into the nether.

Living in the iNfOrMaTiOnOvErLoAd age means we have so many choices of ways to communicate instantly with so many people... quantity vs quality, yadayadayada... but so much weighty stuff is still often left unsaid!

Encouraging people to share their ideas, their creativity, and their kindness with each other is important, dontcha think?