Office experiment

 Office Experiment 1

  16 august, 1:00 - 2.00 p.m   Unitech Cyber Park

As part of our studio unit – activating public spaces ( zone of action being Gurgaon), we a group of 13 calling ourselves the ‘URBAN GORILLAZ – agents of change’ had our first flash mob in  the unitech office complex. Positioning ourselves in groups of two or three around the complex we threw paper planes at each other, while the office crowd moved about with their usual business.

Thinking backwards, I could trace out the whole process of human response – when the few people sitting right in the vicinity of our activity, saw us – after about 2-3 min noticed us (also goes for the crowd moving about) and given 5 min realised our presence. ( while moving about, throwing the planes, the assumptions that I heard people making amongst each other- which were then followed by questions of ‘what’s going on?’ )

Talking about the reactions – there were these people who came up and asked about the activity – all with different concerns – some asking the reason for conducting the activity (if it was some special day, some form of punishment etc) , some wanting to know if we were from the campus or someone from outside – and putting the queries together it came to the basic question that they were curious( what’s happening ???)  

People need to see to follow - there were these people who actually picked up the planes and joined in, and some others who while walking stopped to pick the ones they spotted lying and made this whole act of blowing them and then tossed it – for once they had something different to do than chatting on the phone  ( that is their job, I say, take a break for once! ) 

And talking about activating spaces, I feel its not only about a bunch of people coming and sitting around, I mean people did sit around and did whatever they had to under and around the structure, but its about using it in a way that you socially connect, I mean with ten offices out there and a huge crowd of say about 1000 if only 50 hang around, the connections come out naturally, and when such groups need to hang out they have to use spaces – like the manicured lawns that are in front of the complex (which are conveniently barricaded) why not use them, instead of just standing by them. And if there’s a question of trampling the grass then there’s  an example within the complex – a path meandering through the green.     

About 20-30 people stand by the stalls outside,  a disconnected mass from the complex, I think  a flash mob should be conducted in that area to see the people’s response.  

smriti