Giant magnetic coin-like structure invites people to leave behind their spare pennies, when passing by the Southbank Centre in London. The installation will close on 8 October 2010 and £1 will be donated to children’s charity Barnardo’s for every penny attached to the structure. Drop is an inspiring example of how to playfully engage people in making a donation – the interaction is simple, intuitive, and fun, as people move around the collected pennies like they do with fridge magnets, drawing or writing messages. Drop stimulates visitors to purposefully leave a trace, feeling ownership of their space, while giving back to the community.

This is a project spotted on Dezeen – I have not seen it in person, and wonder if people know how significant their donation was… even if the project does not need instructions for interaction, it still would be nice to know what will happen to all these pennies – especially when it is so motivating to know that each penny will become pounds…

In Autumn of 2005, around the same time as the nation-wide celebration of Guy Fawkes day, we set out to experiment with fireworks – thinking about the basic components to turn an individual or passive event into a community one. We thought about how to make rules for that to happen, what the setting would require, how it could take different forms. It was an early experiment in an attempt to better understand some basics of participatory practice.

We came up with some basic game principles, invited around 15 friends and colleagues and set about playing for several hours along Shoreditch canal, London.

THE CONCEPT
People with sparklers can act as an extended ‘fuse’.

THE FIRST CHALLENGE
People with sparklers along a 200m stretch of the canal were the long distance ‘fuse’ leading to a person at the end holding a roman candle. We lit the sparkler of the first person in line. The challenge for each person was to reach the next person in line before their sparkler ran out, and to finally ignite the roman candle.

EXQUISITE CORPSE LIGHT DRAWING
People with sparklers along a 200m stretch of the canal were the long distance ‘fuse’. The first person in line had their sparkler lit. Each person had the duration of their sparkler to complete a section of the drawing before their sparkler ran out. All drawings were connected sparkler to sparkler, to create a final landscape.

SECRET MESSAGE
People with sparklers wrote their own secret messages, only captured on camera.

ROMAN CANDLE HIDE & SEEK
Participants were split into groups of 5. Each group was given one roman candle; plus one sparkler for each other member of the group. All teams had one sparkler lit at the same time. The sparklers needed to act as a person to person fuse, lasting as long as possible until, when the last sparkler was almost out, they lit their roman candle and gave away their position. The challenge for each group was to get as far as they could in one direction while keeping the sparkler fuse chain alive. The last group to give up their position wins.

FIREWORK TREASURE HUNT
Participants were split into groups. Groups were given one sparkler for each member of the group. All teams had one sparkler lit at the same time. The groups set out to hunt for and find fireworks hidden within a set perimeter. Sparklers acted as a person to person fuse, lasting as long as possible while hunting for fireworks to light. The challenge for each group was to light as many fireworks as possible before the last sparkler of the group extinguished. The group who found and lit the most fireworks wins.

A large scale act of kindness, Here You Go! is an initiative by Julie Kresen (plus Geoff Barnes and Katy DeLancey) of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and funded by Kickstarter, the funding platform website (an interesting method of participation in its own right).

Here You Go! gives out umbrellas on rainy days and asks umbrella recipients to pay it forward by giving out their own kind acts. The free umbrella project has a staff of 50 volunteers whose job it is to commit random acts of kindness on rainy days by giving away umbrellas. Waterproof postcards attached to each umbrella encourage recipients to do something kind for someone else and record the act on the card before mailing it back to the Here You Go organization.

You can see the returned post cards here. And the original Kickstarter proposal here.

photo credit: Bill Wade/Post-Gazette

An excellent way of turning loyal customers into a visible community – This cafe does not have loyalty cards, they’ve got a loyalty wall. Located in Dalston, London Tina We Salute you is an extremely cozy cafe / gallery. They’re great for food, art, atmosphere and their loyalty wall is a reflection of their warm vibe.

How it works -

If you’re a coffee drinker you get your name on the wall and a star next to it every time you order a coffee. After 10 stars, you get a free coffee and graduate to a new round of red outlines, then blue, and it goes on… till there is the exclusive gold and the über exclusive platinum on the tiny section right near the coffee machine.

Why don’t they run out of space? Well they’re not precious. If you don’t show up for a while and just aren’t active, they’ve got a handy bucket of wall-colored paint and aren’t squeamish about painting over any slow movers for the newbies.

It’s a highly visible and endearing reward system with a hint of competition which gets people curious and wanting to join. With all of it’s patrons showcased, it’s something of a family picture.

A ubiquitous example of making traces visible, these posted paper fliers pop up on wooden telephone poles all around the American urban landscape.

Why are they great?
It’s a low tech and user friendly way of submitting posts, sharing information, building a history.
- It’s an open platform. Everyone can do it, everyone has access to both posting, editing and viewing posts.
- Everyone knows how the system works, even people encountering it for the first time. The built up history demonstrates the rules – post up whatever you like. New entries cover up past ones.
- What makes this posting system nice over time is that they leave behind traces. Passers by see posted advertisements and know what’s happening in the local area now but can also know what happened last week, or if peeling back further, can know what happened months ago. The history stays and builds.

While the look and feel of posted fliers may not be an ideal visual representation, the system itself could easily be transferred to different contexts and work just as well.

Every institution has a tone of voice, a personality it presents to visitors. In this case the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark – reached via a short train ride from Copenhagen, in the village of Humlebaek – the tone is open.

On arrival, it feels like walking up to someone’s house – well, that’s because it is a house. One previously owned by Alexander Brun who happened to have had three wives over his lifetime, all by the name of Louise… and that’s how we arrive at Louisiana.

The house serves as a welcoming entry point and opens up to a sprawling building with loads of airy spaces and corridors to explore. Windows everywhere, it’s full of light and vistas onto the surrounding sculpture gardens. And then there are the terraces which open directly to water – the Øresund straight, off the Baltic Sea.

Photo credit: João Leitão

This oasis is the setting for consumption of an excellent permanent collection and rotating exhibitions of modern art. It’s a must-do Danish destination.

But the best, most lovely part – is when you stumble upon the Children’s Wing. It doesn’t feel exclusively like a children’s space, it feels open to those who want to create. This creative space is allowed to get dirty and visitors leave their creative tracks behind.

Permanent tinkering space – the lego area.

Activity rooms are transformed by curatorial themes, where visitors can explore creative methods connected to the art seen in current shows. In this case it’s Brassai, his distinct black and white imagery, made simple by letting visitors have free reign manipulating images with a photocopier machine.

Binders show the breadth of past creative activities.

Surfaces are covered- trash bins, sinks, windows show layers of heavy use.

The roaming activity cart can set up shop anywhere in the museum.

In addition to the creative magic oozing out of the Children’s wing, there’s one more magical treat – Louisiana is also home to a concert hall which hosts a regular programme of top notch music. In warmer seasons, you’ll be treated to performances outdoor on the terraces looking out on the water.

Photo credit: Peter Fristedt

Check out their site to find out more, and visit!