| Interactive Art in Public Like You’ve Never Seen Before |
| Written by Nicole Kottmann | |||
| Wednesday, 03 November 2010 02:34 | |||
 Interested in participating in a marshmallow civil war? How about a giant pillow fight or a subway party on the A train? Many New Yorkers have abandoned their stressful obligations to take a time out and join in on these interactive public art gatherings hosted by Lori Kufner and Kevin Bracken of NewMindSpace. Over the years they’ve hosted events such as bubble battles, LED lightsaber battles, pillow fights, may day blanket forts, giant santa gatherings, marshmallow civil wars, giant games of capture the flag, massive art installations on Valentine’s Day and even big wheel races. These events are hosted in both New York City and Toronto and have adopted quite an international following. All events are always free and enjoyable for people of all ages. Lori and Kevin refer to their events as “The Urban Playground Movement” in which they claim “to make these unique happenings in public space become a significant part of popular culture, partially replacing passive, non-social, branded consumption experiences like watching television.” NewMindSpace recruited me as a follower of these alternative events after all the invites I received on facebook to their annual pillow fight. They also have a mailing list to update followers on upcoming events in their city to help spread the word and gather participants who make these events possible.  The annual pillow fight in Union Square fell nothing short of my expectations. I went out and got a cheap pillow on my way so I could destroy it without concern and as soon as we were told to start, everyone turned around and gently hit their neighbors with a smile and ran off. The air soon filled with feathers and cotton and people raising their cameras hoping not to get them knocked down. After one event, I was totally hooked to the idea of being a part of this cultural phenomenon. The last event to take place in New York was one of the most unique for NewMindSpace because it involved unknown participation with the public who were strangers to this artistic movement. The event consisted of placing signs with the text “Spoiler Alert” under the LED signs on subway platforms that inform passengers when their next train is scheduled to arrive. In the description of this event on their website, NewMindSpace discussed the purpose of this event as questioning the necessity of these LED signs and bringing attention to how they spoil certain aspects of New York City’s subway culture such as the ever present lean over the platform to spot the light approaching in the tunnel after what seems to be an endless wait. This event also called attention to the fact that the signs are quite useless since they are only visible after each passenger has passed through the turnstiles and paid their fair. If you’re not convinced about joining their mailing list yet, you might want to think about the fact that you could be missing out on events such as the Marshmallow civil war that happened last October in which participants were armed with “Marshmallow pistols, jet-puffed assault rifles, bow-and-mallows and Peep grenades “. Who can guess what events are in store for us New Yorkers next? Check out the NewMindSpace site here: http://newmindspace.com/ To watch a video of passenger reactions to “Spoiler Alert”: http://newmindspace.com/spoileralert.php
|
