The world today is not just analogue anymore. Especially for kids – teenagers have used to live in the space, where there is no clear difference between digital and “real”. On the other hand, the best thing about spaces like Tillebierg is a possibility to hang out offline, enjoying company, fresh air, and a special mood of the historic place.
Keeping all this in mind I’ve designed a Secret Time Post, a place, where digital elements and game approach are combined with a place to hang out regardless of the weather. This is a post box, a strange one, on the edge of the wood, looking into the closed eyes of the old house, full of citizens’ stories.
This permanent installation consists of a platform, a staircase, a bench on the ground, the “postbox” on the top, and several QR codes on the steps.
The platform forms several strategies of using the space: first, you can go on top of it and spend time looking to the world from above; second, it serves as a gazebo, saving the bench from rain and sun.
Maybe even more important part of the installation is a bunch of QR codes on the steps and one QR code on the “postbox”. QRcodes rhyme with graffiti on the walls of the building, but these are digital graffiti, and they can change. During the preparation of the project, I’ll gather stories and phrases about love from local community members. They can be long or short, about happy love or miseries. It will be a collage of love life of the place. Every day one QR code will be randomly connected with one of these phrases. Like this, every day the steps will tell different stories.
And there will be a possibility to add something from yourself. For this, one should read the QR code on the postbox, choose the step, the date, and the phrase to be written. Maybe somebody will even use it to make a proposal?
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Participation of the community:
– The main part of the project is a collage of peoples’ stories they would like to share or just mention in one phrase (like touching signs on benches in Central park 😉 );
– Anyone could add new phrases awterwards.
Possible extensions:
– If the community like the idea of QR codes telling stories, the same compositions can be placed in other parts of the city later;
– The platform can be used to place a projector or sound/light system for cinema or party events.