Designer Tory Roff sent me his inspirational 'spin shanty' project, inspired by that childhood play classic, the Sit-n-Spin! Here is his team's proposal for the art shanty projects that occur on a frozen Medicine Lake lake each winter:
"This winter, we want to engage visitors to Medicine Lake in the most
universal form of interpersonal interaction... play. We are making a
giant sit-and-spin shanty reminiscent of one of our favorite childhood
toys. We expect to see teams of users both known and unknown to each
other entering the shanty and collectively spin themselves and the
shanty about a central table while generating heat through activity. Users will
need to communicate and physically work together to get the shanty
moving. We also hope that they will laugh and experiment with how to
interact with the structure and each other. Movement and light will
create the principle aesthetic both inside and out. From the inside,
users will experience daylight streaming in along moving arcs of the
spinning spiral. From the outside onlookers
will see a spiral mimicking the screw-action of an ice
auger. "
Tory and compatriots Bridget Beck, Erick Briden, Samuel Warren, and Dan Isaacs used stained plywood, 5000 staples and 3 gallons of glue over a steel base and heavy duty bearings to make the spinnable artwork, designed to "engage visitors in new ideas of how we can use art in unregulated/ temporary public space to reengage the public with a question of what art can be. For us, the art was about stuffing kids and their adults into a visually and functionally unexpected space and letting them work together to spin themselves, and the shanty as a whole, around an anchored center table. The shanty will spin as fast as users can get it going. Adults usually last about a dozen turns. Kids will usually go as long as absolutely possible and they will laugh and reinvent its uses the entire time...and the table is chalkboard for making up your own games."
Delightful!
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