Tactical Media: The Amazing Ten-Foot Race

Participants: Anne Muntges, Dave Mauzy, and Mike Teneyck

The Objective: The objective of our derive was to create a new way of seeing the experiencing of traveling “on foot” through campus by injecting fun, spontaneity and reward into it. To achieve this we created a ten-foot long race in the pathway between the Lockwood Library and the Student Union. The space is a somewhat unavoidable path that students and faculty commute through. With the help of spectators holding signs like “You’re Almost There” and “GO”, a finish line and an air horn we were able to entice people walking by to “race” through the course and cross our finish line to win.

Did we break any rules? In order to help some of the participants understand the purpose of the disruption we had to “inspire” a few races by using some of our volunteers to start a race or two. We also had to communicate verbally to a few people the purpose of the race so that they would understand the concept a little better and feel more comfortable with the race. Otherwise we stuck pretty much to the agenda we had set forth.

Things Unexpected: Some of the things we ran across that were unexpected were in dealing with our space. In the original design the race space was not clearly defined. Some of the participants were weaving through it and avoiding the course. In order to control the space more we had to mark off the area better so that it was easier for people to read and completely unavoidable. If someone needed to enter that space they were going to have to race.
The Successes: The fulfilling aspect of this project was that in the end the original objective was obtained. We were able to inject a sense of spontaneity and fun into a space that is otherwise left alone. Everyone who participated in it left the space with a smile or sense of accomplishment that was reinforced by the rewarding of a trophy if they had crossed the finish line first. There was even a spectator crowd that viewed the derive with cheerful faces. And since the participants had fun we the creators were also allowed to enjoy ourselves.

Improvements: The thing that was most difficult about this derive is that the time we did this at was a bit of a slow time. The amount of people traveling through the space was little, making it somewhat difficult at times to get the race going. If we were to enact this again it would have to be performed at a time of day that had more people in the space. In addition to this it might also be helpful to have more spectators with a wider gender spread. For our purposes it was predominately male, which may or may not have scared away some potential racers. If there had been a better balance the space might have been a bit more inviting.

New Behaviors: For the creators and volunteers, it was interesting to watch the progressive comfort zone that occurred with us in the space. As the races happened we all became more comfortable with the dynamic of the project and it projected itself onto how we dealt with the participants and the action of the race. As for the people walking by it went as expected for the most part. The only new behavior that was observed is that some people were so uncomfortable with this disruption that they actually walked around the buildings to avoid our roadblock. It was interesting to see the concerned faces of people as they realized that there was a strange block in their usually path.

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