farmdoc's blog post number 589

This is the story of Andrew. In the last two years he’s hung over 85 red swings in various countries around the world. Because he hangs them in public places, he does it at night. Preferring not to reveal his surname, Andrew founded the Red Swing Project in 2007. His, and its, mission statement is to bring playfulness back into the world. What began as a university design assignment exploring urban intervention, has evolved into an international project that’s seen red swings ‘miraculously’ appear on four continents. Andrew places each swing as a ‘magical thing appearing overnight. He’s fascinated that in some places the swings are received as joyous gifts whilst in other places they’re seen as vandalism and cut down, one in as quickly as five minutes. Of the more than 85 he’s hung, only around 25% remain – in their original locations, because maybe people take them and hang them at home. As to the future, he says ‘all I want to do is hang swings’. It seems so, because the Red Swing Project’s website is currently down and its blog is rudimentary. But here is the video. And here is info about the first 35 swings. Good on you, Andrew. I love your work. As I love that of Luke Jerram and darling Meg of whom I wrote here.

farmdoc's blog post number 284

Darling Meg’s 2005 Display Purposes Only project, which involved hundreds of specially-printed t-shirts hung around several world cities, was original, quirky and socially innovative. I think it didn’t receive the publicity it deserved. This month a similar project began: as part of the 2009 Sydney Festival, Luke Jerram, a self-described colour-blind installation artist bought 30 pianos on eBay, and placed them around Sydney and Parramatta – in public squares, bus shelters, parks, a tattoo parlour, hairdressers, a ferry etc – for the public to play. He says he doesn’t mind who plays them, what they play, or for how long; and he wants them to be personalised and decorated. He calls the project ‘Play me, I’m Yours’. Click here for its website, here for a 7.30 Report piece on it, and here for Jerram’s website. I think PMIY’s wonderful, for the same reasons DPO was. In a world replete with, and overwrought by, crises, some spontaneous piano music in public places must be a positive thing. So bravissimi, Mr Jerram and the Sydney Festival. But not the Tamworth Country Music Festival where last Friday, in an act of self-indulgent banality, an attempt was made to break the world record for the largest gathering of guitarists, held by India at 1,782. It failed by a mere 1,187; only 595 attended. I’m pleased. The world needs more spontaneity and less institutionalisation. And thus more people like Luke Jerram and darling Meg.