PEOPLE!

February is well and truly upon us, which means there are only three weeks until i am small THE WORLD IS BIG opens its doors. If we have been somewhat absent from this space it is because we have now entered our production schedule proper; meaning that every day there’s something to decide, to do, to make. As a result the posts that will follow this one are somewhat retrospective (and will potentially be quite short).

Right now I wanted to tell you about people: the wonderful people who have come on board to the project. It strikes me that up to now we have never really worked with other ‘bodies’, other ‘doers’, other ‘makers’. So it is somewhat comical that we find ourselves in a situation were we are collaborating with over 20 individuals. That’s it, Accidental Collective jumps into the deep end! But don’t worry; we are taking like ducks to water.

At the beginning of January we sent out a call for participants who will become an integral part of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. Due to the project’s themes we tried our best to gather people from a wide demographic (ages, backgrounds, etc). Once we had a significant number we organised a few meetings (on the last two Saturdays) where we gave some basic information about the project, noted their availability, answered questions, and also did some sewing/stitching (we prefer a hands-on approach). It was fantastic to meet everybody. Especially because it suddenly felt the project was happening. This is it.

i am small THE WORLD IS BIG was no longer an idea in our heads, but a reality. Moreover, we realised the project’s potential to generate ‘community’. As we sat together in the upstairs room of The Jolly Sailor (thank you to Ian - the landlord- for making this space available to us), there was a true coming-together. People who had never met before were embarking on a joint, creative effort. Together, each contributing their little bit, we were going to make something big happen. To say that this filled us with excitement is probably an understatement. This accidental community was full of potential beyond the project itself. If anything, one of the most direct benefits of these meetings was the exchange of stitching tips. The mother of more than one gentleman will be awfully proud that their son is picking up a needle and thread, and familiarising themselves with this ‘alien’ technology. On a more practical level, for us, these meetings were highly beneficial because suddenly it was not just three brains thinking about the project, but many more. Even though we had come up with the basic structure and framework of the project, some of the individuals involved clarified our thinking with their questions, whilst other still gave us some very interesting ideas: could the ‘workers’ do something in unison at some points, could the centre map be photographed every hour on the hour…

So, as a little tribute to all these people, here is a list of names of those who are involved to date:

Lewis Barron, Amyie Butler, Muriel van Cruchten, Jo Dyre, Olivia Farrant, Richard Franklin, Sebastian Grau, Laura Hobbs, Maggie Johns, Lorraine Keene, Liz Knowles, Phoebe Marsh, Jessica Nine, Alex Norcott, Mez Pondole, Hannah Riches, Estelle Rosenfeld, Daphne Seale, Marc Shilling, Alice Taylor, Catherine Ward, Gemma Williams, Paul Williams, Alex Wood

Thank you, thank you, tank you. To each and every one of you (and a special danke to Sebastian who let us upload the pictures he took during the first meeting).

And of course… We sill hope that more will join. The more the merrier!

Pablo