The idea of the Pillow Fight Zone was very similar to the DIY Balloon Dogs, that we can draw attention to the lack of joy people experience in the built environment by allowing people the opportunity to experience a joyful moment. However, when we workshoped this concept, people responded to it with the thesis of "Society has too many prohibitions and too few invitiations". In reflection the group do es accept that this thesis is probably the more applicable - although either is an option.
To explain what the concept is - if the name of it didn't give enough of a clue - it is a zone in which there are pillows with which people can attach each other.
Arturo, who is the one who came up with the concept, originally invisioned that people would have regular pillows to attack each other with. However, when I was a kid and learning to sew I would make these little cusions about 10cm sqaure which I would throw at my brother. They are fun and hurt even less than a normal sized pillow can. So, for the workshop I spent an afternoon with a friend making a few dozen little pillows. They were a lot of fun in the workshop - especially as I had lots of bright coloured fabric from which to make them.
Anyway, back to the thoery. I think that this one was a really good exploration of the prohibitions and invitations thesis, but again, like the DIY Balloon Dogs I worry about the thesis not being in-your-face enough for the general public to get. I personally think that this one is more likely to be something which people would go away and talk to their friends about - it is a bigger more significant event, more of a deviation from regular routines. Because of this I think that this installation could have worked, however it was pointed out in the workshop that it was a little unfeasible ebcause you'd end p with pillows on the ground that no one would want to pick up and throw at people.
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