Participatory idea:

We began by wanting to interact with the Xavier sculpture because he is human, approachable, and familiar. And, because he is reminiscent of a park statue or public art, he evoked a sense of child-like yearning in us to interact with him. We wanted people to be able to pose with him like they would if he were public art, but were clearly aware that he is not to be touched or treated so informally. To abide by such restrictions we decided to give him a thought/speech bubble and let people fill it in. What is Xavier thinking, feeling, asking; what do you have to say, ask or answer? And, to encourage that child-like feeling and inspiration we decided to use the childhood staple - magnetic alphabet letters.

So we had our idea but needed to work out the logistics and the true purpose of the activity. While our idea and reasons behind it were complicated - people should think about their time in the exhibit, they should reflect on the art, they should use him to express their opinions, they should answer a prompting question that makes them think more deeply, etc. - we realized it is actually very simple. The exhibit is about presenting many voices and making connections between those voices, the artists and the artworks, that otherwise would not be made. We wanted the visitors who participated to add their voice, make a connection, and participate with both Xavier and the other visitors. Instead of a prompt, we instructed people to respond to the word or phrase in Xavier's bubble by putting up magnetic letters in their bubble. Xavier's word or phrase had been left by a previous visitor and each subsequent response would become the prompt for the next visitor.

This word association chain was documented photographically with the contributor, their word and "Xavier's" word. The photo stream was posted to Flickr and the visitors were invited to check out the stream when they got home. This allowed the visitors to look at their connections to other visitors, both before and after them. Each day we started with the word "Form" to reflect the category words of the original Polyphonica Vortexhibition and to demonstrate how many different paths the associations could take.

Design Concept/"Feel":

Clean, simple, nostalgia/childhood, playful, informal, spontaneous, reflexive/instinctive, approachable

(similar to the feel of http://www.savetz.com/fridge/fridge.cgi)

Interaction Plan: 

• There will be an initial word made up of magnetic letters in Xavier's speech bubble; the second bubble will be blank.
• On a table by Xavier will be a sheet of instructions and extra magnetic letters, e.g., "Respond to the word by free association; pose with your word while we take a photo; move your word to Xavier's bubble for the next visitor." There will be a disclaimer for the posting of photos on Flickr. One of us will be standing by the table to facilitate - take the photos, explain the activity, answer question and/or explain the project.
• We will offer visitor the URL for the Flickr stream (http://bit.ly/henryart) so that they can revisit and see how their word fits into the overall sequence.  

Visitor Goals  

     1. Visitors will add their voice to the exhibition by adding words to the sequence.

     2. Visitors will contribute to connections by participating in a continuous photographic record.

     3. The majority of participants will take the Flickr URL with them.

     4. Visitors will visit the Flickr site to see how their word connects to others and see how other visitor's contributed.  

Participation Considerations:

-Participatory exhibits should become better with use...leave something behind for others to see evidence of participation

-No matter how good the activity is, we need a "hook" to initially draw people in, get them excited...(both marketing-wise before the exhibit, and for people who wander in)

-Drawing people to the back of the gallery

-Setup should be inviting for those who want to jump right in, and those who want to stand back and watch/think about it first (streaming the Flickr sequence on the computer screens).