For the April 22nd/25th episode of Spark, I interviewed Boston-based artist, Tim Devin. His project, “i left this here for you to read” is a cool bit of public art. People send Tim written submissions or images to be included in a magazine that he produces. Once the magazine is done, copies are sent out to be distributed by volunteers. People will leave them on park benches, shopping malls…..anywhere they think a complete stranger might like a free magazine to read.
A lot of Tim Devin’s work involves connecting with strangers in urban spaces, or encouraging the sharing of personal stories that relate to locations in contemporary cities. In the spirit of Tim’s work, we thought we’d like to get in on the action and we hope the Spark community will chip in and participate.
Here’s what we’ve got in mind.
We want to write a collaboratively written list that can go into an upcoming edition of “i left this here for you to read”. Just tell us the best place to meet strangers in your city or town….and why. For instance, I would probably say the best place in Toronto is I Deal Coffee in Kensington Market, because a LOT of are people standing waiting for their coffee in a very small space, and no one ever seems to be in a hurry. Even frosty Torontonians warm up! Thoughts?
Original image used with permission of Tim Devin
I just love this idea…I don't know why it just makes me happy. So to business; The best place to meet strangers in Ottawa is the chair lift at any one of our local ski hills, skiing alone you are randomly paired with other individual skiers and have the duration of the lift ride to chat knowing the connection is transient. Sometimes the chat is interesting, sometimes it's bilingual, sometimes there is no chat at all.
I know. As soon as I saw it, I immediately took to it. It's the whole serendipity aspect, I think.
Ha! My first thought was chair lift too… when I lived in Whistler I met some awesome people and had the 20 min. ride to chat – sometimes we'd stick together all day and sometimes not.
Now I have kids & live in Vancouver – being a Mom of young kids I meet people all the time at the playground – it's easy to start up a chat as we have something obvious in common, and it happens all the time at almost every playground I go to. Love the idea of the mag…
Union Station – soooo many delays with the GO train. I think it would be nice for someone to have something to read while they wait for the next train.
Phone booths would make another good place.
Hi Dan,
I couldn't agree more. I met my boyfriend at Union Station when we both missed a GO train—a great conversation starter. Had we not been running up the stairs at the same time to find closed doors, I don't think we would've met.
I like the idea of revealing the personal significance of a public place; it makes the urban experience less anonymous and alienating.
Although, on the other hand, it reminds of the lines from a poem by the Belgian poet Eddy Van Vliet: "The city is filled with places you took from me."
Wow, that's a heartbreaker of a line! It's true, though. I had this period when I lived in Montreal where there were whole streets I couldn't walk down because they had bad memories. Ouch!
In Halifax, we love to meet each other for the first time in front of our beautiful downtown public library.
We also run into new friends at the Halifax commons over a game of frisbee.
Here in Calgary you can meet people on the benches beside the many bike and walking paths along the banks of the two rivers (Bow and Elbow). I do this while taking a break from inline skating.
I've met some great people at the laundry mat. At first I used to hate having to leave the house to do my laundry, but now I love the weekly outting and always wonder who I might run into. And if it happens to be nobody, the gentleman that runs the place is always so nice to chat with.
I love this concept. I am actually one of the volunteers and it gives me a magical warm weird feeling not knowing who is reading what I left there for them to read. I could day dream all day long wondering. I like to imagine their face when they read that "I left this here for you to read" and wonder if they smile.
Too funny…I love the concept, although it does remind me a bit of a message in a bottle with a theme. The best way to meet people is the local coffee shop-wherever local is for you, although the laundry mat is a close second.