City Planters

In reaction to looking at alternative ways of creating street art and Guerrilla Gardening, I was very much intrigued to try some of our own. Anna and I, another girl from my group, decided to do just that, going out packed up with different plants and plant pots and various cameras we set out along our roots to do some Guerrilla Gardening of our own.
It was an intriguing day.

It is peoples reactions to this kind of thing that I find the most interesting. Not many people came up and spoke to us, more said passing comments or just looked bewildered or intrigued by us. We walked along one of the routes leading back into the northern quarter, setting up various installations along the way. But where we found the most interesting reactions was when we decided to set up a mini installation in Stevenson Square then go and sit at one of the opposite cafes so we could observe peoples reactions from afar.

Firstly as we were setting it up, two young people came up to us, really excitable, really interested in what we were doing. We chatted to them for a while and asked them what they would like to do in Manchester? With the boy answering that he thought it would be a really great idea to set up various swings around the city. Saying that he sees so many places to set up single swings, There are so many signposts and various city architecture that would be brilliant for hanging swings. In hindsight we really should have recorded this conversation, or taken a picture of them for research but we were too enthralled by the conversation.

After we had finished setting this up we settled across the street to observe. There wasn't much going on, a few people glancing at it. But after a little while a group of three young people came bounding up to it, cameras at the ready. They stayed by it for quite a while taking pictures and chatting, a few pictures of themselves with the installation. Out of nowhere a man went over to join them, middle aged maybe, with a punnet of flowers in hand. We were too far away to hear the conversation, (which is something else I would try and do differently next time) but then he put his punnet down with our installation, chatted a bit more then picked it up and left. I don't know where he was going with that punnet but I would love to know! The whole idea of him adding to our installation was fabulous!

This point of interactive street art was something that we really wanted to explore on this city adventure, seeing peoples reactions and how they interact with it. The element of surprise.
One of the girls in my group posted an interesting article of audience participation and curating the city like an exhibition. I think this all links back to my initial ideas on having a trail of breadcrumbs, decoration, leading you around the city, the experience is the whole not just the gallery at the end.