www.HowDoYouStartAConversation.blogspot.com

Coffee shops are embedded with qualities such as information exchange and communication.  Amongst the many individuals that define themselves as a community, we have yet to fully understand the impact that instantaneous technologies have had on our daily social lives in collective settings.  This project is an attempt to understand how the local community of Baldwinsville understands the effects of instantaneous technology on social interactions in local businesses such as the Shamballa Cafe.  

March 29th

During the night of March 29th, the same procedures were followed as on the night of the 27th, except that it was much less trafficed than the last.   I had decided to break out the spy cam.  At first I controlled the gaze of the button hole sized camera, and then allowed others to take the reins.  

The size of this camera makes it much less obtrusive, and therefore, it was often disregarded as even being present.  This allows for some insightful occurences to procure.

Without the intimidation of the camera, a genuine conversation unfolded between two strangers.   

March 27th

During the night of March 27th, I had set up work up in a local coffee shop in downtown Baldwinsville, Ny called Shamballa Cafe.  In the center of the shop, propped up on a table was a screen with a projection feed running from my laptop.  On the walls I had placed prints of several photographs.

The projection and prints were comprised of photographs I had taken using various types of glass and light.  The imagery cast a shadow of a post global destruction of microscopic to macroscopic proportions.

Over the course of the evening, the entire facility filled with humans ranging from teen aged to middle aged crowding for open mic night. Throughout the event I had handed out several fieldguides with questions such as, How do you start a conversation?, What is word of mouth these days?, Write or draw something you see or hear. These were to be filled out and handed back to me.

              Slideshow of Fieldguides

A Conversation

When a person buys a service, one purchases a set of intangible activities carried out on one's behalf.  But when one buys an experience, one pays to spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that company stages--as in theatrical play --to engage one in a personal way. The Experience Economy