This resident of Chiang Mai, Thailand, filled a bag with colorful puff balls for a project designed to connect members of the community. Photo: TEDxChiangMai
In the days before their event in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the team at TEDxChiangMai spent a large chunk of their time collecting stuff. All kinds of stuff — the quirky, the old, the new, the unwanted, the loved and the thoroughly weird — that could be used for a collaborative art project on the big day. They found people at their workplaces, shops, studios, and homes and asked them to contribute in the spirit connecting the city.
The exchange would go like this, they told locals turned potential donors: Materials donated to the project — dubbed, “Connecting Creativity,” a play on their event theme: “Creating Connections” — would be given to an attendee at random during the event. With the materials, this attendee would build a craft of their own invention. Afterwards, they’d snap a photo of themselves with the piece and send it to the donor as a thank you.
The community responded in droves. The team collected a wide range of donations, many reflective of the donors’ personalities, lives and work: everything from homemade CDs to badminton birdies, from floppy disks to bells, birthday candles to figurines, faux flowers to old toys. Donors provided their contact information on specially-printed index cards, and these cards and materials were included in 300 grab bags.
On the big day, bags were handed out to attendees at random. Each person was challenged to create something from the items in their bag, with help from baskets of open-to-all extra materials. It was a whir of tape, glue and creativity. And the items they created showed off each attendee’s ingenuity and sense of humor.
Here’s how it worked. First, the donors pose with the bags of materials they contributed:
The crafting begins the day of TEDxChiangMai.
Attendees pose with their crafts.
All photos courtesy of TEDxChiangMai. Find out more about this event »
Comments (7)
colin musil commented on Dec 24 2015
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quang vinh mai commented on Oct 30 2014
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Richard Metting commented on Oct 29 2014
I would love to send some of my old floppy disks.
http://1fixcomputermedic.com
tedxmanipaldubai commented on Oct 26 2014
Reblogged this on TedxManipalUniversityDubai.
Martin Venzky-Stalling commented on Oct 23 2014
The core idea of the connecting creativity bag was to link people from all walks of life in Chiang Mai with TEDxChiangMai attendees through the process of artistic co-creation. We set out by distributing 300 paper bags to people around Chiang Mai. We chose people randomly from friends, university students, shop owners, people we see but never have a chance to talk, to a complete strangers on the street.
We approached them and explained how they could provide materials for TEDxChiangMai attendees to create something and be connected. We gave them few days to fill in the bag and we arranged the pick-up.
At first, a lot of people were puzzled by the idea and were not sure what to do. When we reassured them that the materials could be anything they can easily find in the household, used or unwanted, or from their craft, they started to smile. We also addressed that their participation would pave the way for TEDxChiangMai attendee to get to know them (via the information they provided in the card) and be able to make some artworks. It will be fun from both sides.
On the day, we asked TEDxChiangMai attendee to pick a bag telling them we don’t even know what inside. Already this created certain curiosity. When we told them how the bag full with stuff came to us, many attendee showed a big smile, even when they opened the bag and found unfamiliar materials, they started to use their imagination and explore how they would create something interestingly. They all said the activity was joyful and very interesting and creative. Many were surprised by their own creativity. Many were reluctant at the beginning and took some time to finish their work. But at the end they felt accomplished – many were amazed of their artistic ability.
The project supported the very theme of TEDxChiangMai (creating connections) – to connect people, to connect people with creativity and idea. Art has no barrier in language, age, or race. It was very interesting to observe people started a conversation and showed smiles while they were engaging in this activity.
We witness the true spirit of people helping each other, sharing ideas, getting to know each other, appreciating simple things, applying their imagination and rediscover their very skills in creativity.
We think it was not the end-product that this activity aimed at, in fact, it was the process of how community spirits can be strengthened via simple art activity and everyone was having a memorable moment together.
The X-shaped wooden structure, a scaffolding of sorts, was used to showcase the art pieces at the end. People also took photos and kept the card so that they could send a photo of their final art piece to the person who had donated the content. These photos were also shared widely with the community.
www,tedxchiangmai.com
designmode24 commented on Oct 23 2014
very interesting, Thailand seems to be an amazing country
disfrutatuhogar commented on Oct 23 2014
muy lindo