Words to the World

An easel, a blank sheet and a box of markers in Union Square, with two quotation marks as the only instruction. Strangers filled it in an afternoon.

Sep 15 – 21. Lumber from a yard in Chinatown, cut down in the Parsons woodshop into the panels of the backboard; the easel cut and assembled in a day: two legs meeting at the top, a cross brace, and a third leg behind to stand it up.

A 28″ × 38″ wooden backboard on a 62–64″ easel, holding a sheet of plotter paper that is blank except for a quotation mark in two opposite corners.

The aim was for strangers to sign their names, or write whatever came to mind. That only partly happened.

Handed markers and a blank sheet, people drew and wrote instead of signing. A signature is formal — most of us sign only for legal things, or once, as children, at the bottom of a drawing for the fridge.

Sep 22, 4:24 – 5:30 pm in Union Square, cut down to just over a minute.

Most contributions were remarks, questions, encouragement, love and hope; a few were signed, a few were signatures. A success, despite rushed time management and an under-planned process.