Squaring is Caring
The space that our flat overlooks is completely unused yet this grass courtyard is what every flat faces onto and has equal access to. This strange situation that we are able to see each other living through the windows but security in the building stops us being able to even go and knock on a door to say hello. The flats are very institutional, safe but therefore socially very separate. We would like to use this space to become a communal space used for various events and chances to interact with one another. We thought it would be best to begin by inviting everyone for tea and coffee, a very common, gentle and unthreatening activity so that everyone feels able and confident to come and knows what to expect.
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We made small invites and attached them to tea bags, that we then placed in envelopes which had individual collages on. These were then bundled together and left outside each flat.
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We also attached many scarves together to make a huge long scarf so that in the cold weather we could all get close and wrap up warm as well as making it necessary to be close and sit all together, getting in knots as we try to serve tea. To begin we set up the table and began with just one of us sat at the table drinking tea alone wrapped in all the scarf. As others came to join we gave them some scarf and offered tea.
We had a general discussion but brought in questions we were interested in exploring through this project such as is it necessary to know our neighbour, or do we have community in other places. Also how much of others lives you can see form window to window!
To thank those who came we detached, ironed and faded each of the scarves with a small thank you note.
It was fairly successful as those who came said they enjoyed to chance to meet others and one even referred to us as 'the quad in the squad' by the end. However we think even more planning was necessary as we discovered the pressure was on us to almost perform a role which neither of us felt confident to do.
Documentation was also a challenge as we didn't want to record anything overtly in case in affected the conversation and genuine quality of relationships forming if it seemed we had an alterier motive so we focused all our attention on the people who were there and present in the moment.
One person commented that what intrigued them was the time that had been put into each invitation, and that their flat all came together to see if the collaged words on the envelopes made a complete sentence or revealed a meaning.
One referred to the group at the end as the squad in the quad.
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We learnt a lot along the process of organising and delivering this.
However, an aspect we struggled with was the pressure and reliance on us as individuals. We prefer the anonymity around around strangers interacting in a different way through something else more unusual.
This was a difficult piece as we needed great organisation and advanced planning and constantly questioning how we could create value that people would get out of the experience, more than any other tea and cake meeting.
Reflective Poem
