MANIFESTO:HOW DO WE CREATE A COLLECTIVE? DOES THE INDIVIDUAL EFFECT THE COLLECTIVE? DOES THE COLLECTIVE EFFECT THE INDIVIDUAL?

THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT SITUATIONS WHEN WE COME TOGETHER TO FORM A COLLECTIVE. WE CAN SOMETIMES BELONG TO THESE COLLECTIVES WITHOUT EVEN NOTICING THAT THE FORMATION HAS TAKEN PLACE.

IN BEING PART OF A COLLECTIVE THERE IS A PERCEPTION OF BELONGING AND RE-LATING TO ONE ANOTHER, COMPARED TO THE SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. THE SENSE MAY NOT BE ALWAYS AS STRONG AS THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH FRIENDS. FOR INSTANCE, WHEN TRAVELING ON THE TRAIN WE TEND TO TRAVEL ALONE (NOT AL-WAYS KNOW ANYONE ON THE TRAIN) BUT AS A WHOLE, EVERYONE ON THAT TRAIN HAVE BEGUN TO FORM A COLLECTIVE.

THERE ARE SITUATIONS WHERE THE INDIVIDUAL HAS MORE OF AN INFLUENCE OVER THE COLLECTIVE AND VISE VERSA.

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COLLECTIVE |KƏˈLEKTIV|ADJECTIVEDONE BY PEOPLE ACTING AS A GROUP : A COLLECTIVE PROTEST.• BELONGING OR RELATING TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF A GROUP : MINISTERS WHO SHARE COLLEC-TIVE RESPONSIBILITY.• (ESP. OF FEELINGS OR MEMORIES) COMMON TO THE MEMBERS OF A GROUP : A COLLECTIVE SIGH OF RELIEF FROM PARENTS.TAKEN AS A WHOLE; AGGREGATE : THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF THE WORKFORCE.

INDIVIDUAL |ˈINDƏˈVIJƏWƏL|ADJECTIVE1 [ ATTRIB. ] SINGLE; SEPARATE : INDIVIDUAL TINY FLOWERS.2 OF OR FOR A PARTICULAR PERSON : THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN.• DESIGNED FOR USE BY ONE PERSON : INDIVIDUAL SERVING DISHES.• CHARACTERISTIC OF A PARTICULAR PERSON OR THING : INDIVIDUAL TRAITS OF STYLE.• HAVING A STRIKING OR UNUSUAL CHARACTER; ORIGINAL : SHE CREATES HER OWN, HIGHLY INDI-VIDUAL, LANDSCAPES.

INDIVIDUAL_COLLECTIVEHOW TO CREATE_

THROUGHOUT THE TIME IN BERLIN I WAS CONSTANTLY DRAWN TO THE MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOUR OF PEO-PLE THROUGH SPACE. ONE OF THE FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF THIS SITUATION WAS GETTING A TRAIN AT HERMANN PLATZ ON THE U-BAHN. IT WAS A PLACE THAT DIDN’T FEEL UNFAMILIAR TO THE CITY STATIONS IN MELBOURNE, BUT IT WAS THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE PEOPLE HERE THAT STRUCK AN INTEREST IN ME.

ANOTHER PLACE WHERE THE INTERACTION AND BEHAVIOURS OF GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS WERE STRONG WAS WHEN WE TOOK A TRIP TO GÖRLITZER PARK. IT WAS A REALLY LOVELY AFTERNOON AND MANY PEOPLE (INDIVIDUALS AND COLLECTIVES) HAD GONE TO THE PARK TO RELAX. THE BEHAVIOURS OF THE PEOPLE WHETH-ER THEY WERE BY THEMSELVES OR TOGETHER WITH OTHERS, WERE ALWAYS AWARE OF EVERYONE AND AL-LOWED ENOUGH SPACE BETWEEN THEMSELVES SO THEY WEREN’T INTRUDING.

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BERLIN_WISMAR_MELBOURNE

THE YARRA FOOTBRIDGE OFFERS UP SOME OF THE BEST SITUATIONS WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING A COL-LECTIVE. ON ONE SIDE YOU HAVE THE BLACK TIES OF SOUTH BANK, WHERE BUSINESS PEOPLE CONGREGATE TO-GETHER AT WORK, RESTAURANTS AND CAFES. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE YOU HAVE THE BUSY FLINDERS STREET STATION, WHERE PEOPLE ARE CONTINUOUSLY FORM-ING COLLECTIVES AS THEY GET OFF AND ON TRAINS AND MOVE THROUGH THE SPACES OF THE STATION.

‘It is often not the art work or the performance itself that stands in the foreground but the audience’s response to it that becomes the main event.’- Feireiss. L. ‘Livin’ in the City: The Urban Space as Creative Challenge.’

‘Art that typically responds to the social community, locational identity, the built environment, and public places.’- ‘Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Spaces.’

THE BRIDGE ITSELF OFFERS UP GREAT POTENTIAL TO BECOME A PLACE WHERE COLLECTIVES FORM. AT THE MOMENT THERE IS A BAR WHICH SITS JUST BELOW THE BRIDGE CALLED PONY FISH ISLAND. HERE PEOPLE DO GATHER TOGETHER, BUT LOOKING AT THE BRIDGE ITSELF IT IS JUST USED AS A PLACE OF TRANSITION. THERE ARE SOME ODD VOID SPACES ON THE BRIDGE THAT ARE UNOCCUPIED AND COULD BE USED IN SITUATIONS TO FORM A COLLECTIVE.

ON THE YARRA FOOTBRIDGE THERE ARE SECTIONS OF THE WALKWAY WHERE HARDLY ANYONE WALKS. IN TURN, THERE ARE ALSO SECTIONS OF THE FOOTBRIDGE WHERE THE WALK-WAY BECOMES QUITE TIGHT AND NARROW. NOT LEAVING MUCH ROOM FOR MOVEMENT.

CREATING A COLLECTIVE: TEST_01

THE CREATION OF THE COLLECTIVE IN TEST 01 COMES IN THE FORM OF GIVING PEOPLE A CHANCE TO ASSEM-BLE AT DIFFERENT POINTS ALONG THE YARRA FOOT-BRIDGE.

BY SETTING UP A MEETING PLACE, THIS WOULD EN-COURAGE INDIVIDUALS AND COLLECTIVES TO JOIN IN. ALONG THE YARRA FOOTBRIDGE THERE ARE VOID SPAC-ES THAT ARE NOT ALWAYS OCCUPIED AND SETTING UP CHAIRS WITHIN THESE SPACES WOULD GIVE USE TO THEM. STARTING OFF WITH AN INDIVIDUAL WOULD THEN INVITE THE PASSING BY COLLECTIVES OR OTHER INDI-VIDUALS TO JOIN IN.

VOID SPACES ALONG YARRA BRIDGE:PLACES WHERE A MEETING PLACE CAN BE SET UP

CREATING A MODEL COLLECTIVE IS ONE THING, BUT CREATING COLLECTIVES OF PEOPLE PASSING THROUGH SPACE IS ANOTHER.

WITH THIS TESTING A LITTLE MODEL COLLECTIVE WAS CREATED AND PLACED AT DIFFERENT POINTS ALONG THE YARRA FOOTBRIDGE. THE IDEA WAS TO CREATE A SITUATION FOR PEOPLE TO STOP AND OB-SERVE. AT DIFFERENT POINTS CREATING THEIR OWN COLLECTIVE WITH THE MODELS AND A COLLECTIVE OF THE OTHER PEOPLE AROUND THEM

INDIVIDUALS

COLLECTIVES

NO INTEREST

CREATING A COLLECTIVE: TEST_02

*SLINKACHU “LITTLE PEOPLE PROJECT”, AIMS TO ENCOUR-AGE CITY-DWELLERS TO BE-COME MORE AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS.

CREATING A COLLECTIVE:TEST_03

GOING TO THE GYM

DRIVING - TRAFFIC

CATCHING THE TRAIN

WAITING TO CROSS THE

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SCHOOL

EATING OUT

SITTING AT COMPUTERS

WALKING TO THE TRAIN

COMING HOME

WORK

TOUCHING SOMEONE

TALKING TO PEOPLE

FINDING SOMEONE WITH A

SHARED INTERESTAT THE ENTRANCE TO PONY FISH ISLAND BAR THERE IS A LARGE BLUE STONE WALL WHICH IS A PERFECT PLACE FOR STICKING UP A POSTER.

USING THE FOCUSED SITE OF THE BLUE STONE WALL AND PONY FISH ISLAND, I CREATED AN INTERACTIVE INTER-VENTION WHERE IT INVITED PEOPLE TO ‘COME JOIN ME’. STICKING UP A POSTER THAT CLEARLY READ ‘COME JOIN ME’, I SAT DOWN AT A TABLE BY MYSELF AND WAITED TO SEE THE RESPONSE OF MY POSTER.

*FASCES |ˈFASˈˈZ|PLURAL NOUN ARE A BUNDLE OF WOODEN STICKS WITH AN AXE BLADE EMERGING FROM THE CENTER, WHICH IS AN IMAGE THAT TRADITIONALLY SYMBOLIZES SUMMARY POWER AND JURIS-DICTION, AND/OR ‘STRENGTH THROUGH UNI-TY.’

COLLECTIVES EFFECT ON INDIVIDUALS: THERE IS THIS THEORY OF THE FASCES* AND WHEN TRANSCENDING IT INTO THE IDEA OF A COLLECTIVE IT CREATES THIS IDEA THAT WHEN BUNDLED TO-GETHER THE COLLECTIVE CAN NOT BE EASILY BROKEN. DURING MANY OF THE TESTINGS THE COLLECTIVES THAT PASSED THROUGH THE SPACES OF THE YARRA FOOTBRIDGE WERE OBLIVIOUS TO THE HAPPENING OF THE THEM. SO IN TURN THE COLLECTIVE PROVED TO BE A STRONG HOLD AND WERE LESS OBSERVANT WHILE PASSING THROUGH.

IN SOME SITUATIONS ON THE BRIDGE WHEN A COLLECTIVE DID STOP TO IN-TERACT OR OBSERVE THE TESTINGS THEY CREATED QUITE A DISRUPTION OF THE REST FOR THE PEOPLE CROSSING OVER THE BRIDGE.

THROUGH EACH TESTING IN THE PROJECT OF INDIVIDUALS AND COLLEC-TIVES THERE HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT FINDINGS.

INDIVIDUALS EFFECT ON COLLECTIVES: THE INDIVIDUAL CAN HOLD QUITE A LOT OF POWER WHEN IT COMES TO THE COLLECTIVE. THIS WAS SEEN IN TEST 02 WHERE A SCHOOL GROUP PASSED BY THE LITTLE MODEL COLLECTIVE. ONE OF THE SCHOOL BOYS NOTICED THE MODELS AND POINTED THEM OUT TO HIS FRIENDS.

HOWEVER, SOME INDIVIDUALS CHOOSE NOT TO USE THEIR POWER THEY HAVE OVER COLLECTIVES AS MUCH THOUGH. MANY OF THE INDIVIDUAL PEO-PLE I SAW VIEWING OR INTERACTING WITH THE TESTINGS CHOOSE TO LOOK BUT THEN CONTINUE TO WALK ALONG WITH THEIR COLLECTIVE AND PRE-TEND TO IGNORE THE TESTS.