Spontaneous Rezoning
Our project seeks to spontaneously rezone everyday urban space with the appropriation of industrial-grade construction objects. We anticipate that the messages coded into traffic cones, caution tape, and orange flags are sufficiently authoritative to subvert normal pedestrian flow—even in unorthodox places. By positioning these items in various configurations, strangers may feel compelled to address one another as they navigate an unexpected detour or blockade. It’s our intent to stage these interventions primarily in places of leisure and low-urgency transit such as parks, sidewalks, and interstitial spaces. We’re interested in how people respond to these decontextualized encounters.
On a bright Saturday afternoon in late April, Alexandra Kuechenberg and I set out with a roll of yellow caution tape and a hand truck stacked with four large, orange cones. We came to a pedestrian-friendly path along LaGuardia Place, canopied with trees and occupied by a statue of the old mayor himself. We began by setting up the cones in a curve from the main sidewalk into a pathway curving off to the left, curious to see if pedestrians might follow. They seemed not to heed this setup and simply passed between the cones. Next we strung caution tape between the cones so that people couldn’t go between them. As a result, most just went around—an improvement, at least in the sense that our actions were visibly reverberating in some way.
It was beginning to set in between Alex and I that antagonistic gestures are not the most effective in getting strangers to interact. Novelty, creativity, and silliness drew more constructive attention. So the next configuration really didn’t have anything to do with rerouting. We just created a kind of strange monument with cones balanced on top of each other. With each iteration it was interesting to note how disconnected we became from the intervention once we walked away from it. Moreover, the nature of the materials almost guaranteed that no one would interfere with them. One woman I came in contact with while casually walking by remarked, “I love it!” when I asked her what she thought. Carrying on, we decided to extrapolate from our initial plan by creating playful/absurd detours. People now had to choose whether to go around or step over the low-hanging tape. Some expressed amusement, some annoyance, others confusion. We were happy to see them engaging with the scene.
Part of what interested us about this concept in the first place is the communication aesthetics of urban construction. Documenting these objects in the environment, we developed an even better sense of how they stand out against their concrete backdrop. As our search for another suitable location dragged on, we decided to try something else. So we turned the cameras on boundaries of light and shade demarcated by our cones and tape. In some instances we laid the cones on their side along the shadow a building cast. We also tried outlining patches of light with the tape and setting up signifiers for pedestrians about to walk into or out of the sunlight. These images were striking both in their color and their temporality.
Interacting with strangers on your own can be challenging. Getting them to interact with each other is another thing altogether. We set out to disrupt normal pedestrian flow through the use of construction signals. Our plan was ambiguous, though, as to whether we were after a kind of spectacle or antagonism. The settings wherein we had envisioned staging these interventions were such that traffic cones looked out of context. As a result, they were less likely to exert their subtle influence than to draw attention. What excited us about this project was how far something as simple as a roll of tape can go in affecting behavior and suggesting phenomena. While we weren’t particularly successful at provoking stranger interactions, we learned more about its complexity, viewed the city differently, and were redirected into the domain of sculpture.
