Project Shed

 


Issues:  Communities where outside eyes see nothing of worth and the self esteme of the community suffers. Highlighting the many acts of kindness and giving which keep down trodden communities on their feet and learning lessons from them. Helping people ask for help without feeling little and giving people a sense that they can help others.

Actions: Take note through "Goodness Spies" where community members note acts of kindness each week and feed these back to the group. Memorialising these acts of kindness in ways specific to your groups talents. We created stained glass windows telling the stories of gifted flapjack, voice recordings which played from community bird boxes and sewn text cushions.  Create opportunities for more giving and receiving. We staged clothes and story swap days,  jacobs tables, wild flower seed bombs, allotment produce processing into smoothies and jams, and gift cards which offered the barer a voucher for a task. We hosted the results in a shed gift shop where everything was available for free and invited the wider community in to see it. We staged a performative tea party where those at the table shared cake and a discussion prompted by 50 conversation starter cards. The rest of the community and outside observers watched on and could elect to take a seat at the table to share a point and a brew.

Uses: To tell those from beyond the community about its worth. When a community has worth and knows it it is harder to dismantle it. To explore the many dimensions of giving over an intense period of time and develop sollutions and art works in collaboration with a community.

Discussions:

1 Might we expect to have more trouble giving stuff or recieving stuff? Why?

2 What is the effect of deprevation within a community on giving and receiving? 

3 Can and should giving be unconditional?

4 What might the affect of giving a gift to a stranger be?

5 Do whole swathes of our society actually live in a gifting economy already?

 





 

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