Todays site visit to Testing Grounds provided an insight to the world of activation. It is amazing how you can manipulate a space when presenting. Taking a public location and making it your own.

We discussed how when you are approached in the street by a stranger trying to give you something, it is more often that not met by resistance. Why is this? Often they are trying to give you flyers, whether they be discounts at local restaurants, promos or information about religious groups. When they walk up to you, you don’t know what their motive is, however 9 times out of 10 the receiver says no thank you and walks away without a second thought. What could you do to make them respond differently? Is it someone stepping into your space that makes you resist? Or is it our pre-trained thoughts in our minds which associate these people with negative connotations.

When working at We are the projects we do together Joseph explores the idea of giving power to other people. Developing a space for people to be creative, however transferring the power to the public. The idea of giving the projector backpacks to others allowed them to express themselves without previous thought. Making impromptu decisions as to what they wanted to display. Quite often I feel that it is our first instinct which is the most powerful and meaningful.