THE LONELY BENCH PROJECT

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT : 

Sitting on a bench is nice in the summer. You can appreciate the sun, the nature and peace. But what about those old men who just sit on a bench in an ugly, crowded shopping mall, in order to be surrounded by people, hoping that someone will interact with them.

My intervention in Tapiola will consist in drawing people's attention to the fact that communication is vital. 

I. THE IDEA 

I asked myself again what striked me most about Tapiola. Throughout all my wanderings in the center of Tapiola, I couldn't help noticing all those old people just sitting on some bench waiting for someone to share anything with them. 

My aim was to interact with people and give to the place more life. Make people realize that there are other people around them and that we shouldn't deprive ourselves of communication.

The idea was to put those signs on some benches where I'll be sitting on to draw people's attention.Those signs are designed like the signs on cigarette packs, as if it's a matter of life and death. 

II. THE PREPARATION

On the morning of the 4th of May, I went to Heikintori, armed with the printed signs, some tapes, a camera and even a vegan glue that I cooked the day before. 

As I was fixing the signs on the benches of the area, I realized that most of the people don't pay any attention about what you're doing. As a matter of fact, nobody asked me anything. Even the policemen that I bumped into. 

III. THE PERFORMANCE

I sat down on every benches I had put a sign on for at least 10mn each. 

The better spot was the place in front of a children's playground. 

The signs that worked the best were "You may say hello to me" and "You may smile at me", especially in the Finnish version. 

People in groups or happy people tended to interact more with me. But as I said earlier, unfortunately there is a lot of lonely sad people in Tapiola.

During the performance, I learned how to forced eye contact, an experience that most Finns don't like. I have even noticed that the people that were using "my" benches, were also covering the signs I had put on. I should have created a sign saying "Leave me alone", it would have been more succesful. 

It could be considered as cheating to smile at someone, hoping that this person will read the sign next to me that indicate him to smile back. But after half an hour alone on a bench, a need for attention was growing in me. I felt exactly like the lonely people I felt sorry for : invisible, burried into a world of silence. 

However, I am glad to lighten some people's day : some laughed with me, talk to me, smiled at me... I was glad to listen to an old man talking to me in Finnish with a big smile on his face, even though I couldn't understand anything. 

Next time, I'll bring a blanket!