I had the opportunity thanks to fellow PhD candidate Smizz to try out the Mollie. We were having a barbecue at the back of S1 in Park Hill estate in Sheffield. One of the other PhD candidates, Julie, plays music,and bought along a squeeze box. I had been thinking of Park Hill for awhile, as it is pretty dramatic, and run down, and redeveloped, and iconic. Placing the crown wasn’t too difficult, and I had a chair, but it would have been good to be able to get it higher. I chose a lamp post, rather than search around for an interesting pole. Lamp posts are a bit thin and don’t reveal the crown to its full aesthetic. There was an oohhh when the ribbons were revealed to the candidates gathered around. There were eight of the PhD people who could do it. I had thought that it would be hard to take them through it, buy Emma and Rose both had some kind of previous Maypole experience.
I also thought it would just be them moving around the maypole, but they did actually weave through it, creating the pattern, so the pole did fill with the barber shop design. Also Amy turned out to really know how Maypoles work, and wore flowers in her hair, so this was an aspect of role play and world building in the participants. So a third of the participants, of differing ages, knew how to maypole dance. I felt the location wa epic, and looking around, the Maypole, with the ribbons extended and held by participants really affected the space, and seemed outer kilter to be there. Rose kept mentioning the rural, and this felt kind of like a rural activity transposed to the urban environment of Park hill, also there was talk of the film the Wicker Man and jokes of being burnt at the end, so some acceptance of it’s pagan ritualistic aspect . It was interesting how they did argue to begin, and insist on not skipping, but as it went on, they were more incorporated into the actions, their behaviour began to become bigger, and they took on Maypole culture aspects, such as skipping. Also the gamefulness, of puzzle solving did come into it, they had to work out how to create the pattern, and then how to unwind the ribbons once made. There also was a cheer from them when they had wrapped it, and excited selfies of them and the pole when it was covered in ribbons.
This pattern creating, and the unravelling after did present a number of puzzle challenges, and also group negotiations and problem solving, all revolving around how to make the pattern witht the ribbons. ON a thought more about the work as a whole, and its relation to skateboarding and hacking culture. I realised that the poles are all poles, and that unlike in skateboarding’s use of street furniture for trick challenges, the poles don’t provide different challenges. You can change the dance, but the challenge is not dependent on what pole you use. Emma also drew a comparison between the ribbons and Deleuze Rhizome, which was very appropriate in a way, a nice metaphor. I also noticed from the photos, how the colours of the ribbons matched the refurbished flats. I felt that this work really did have imaginatie affordance, and that the end wrapping ws like hacking the city, like graffiti etc, it connected to Borden’s work on skateboarding and the city. As the ribbons are forlorn, just hanging till they are activated and energised by participants. I have also just got today a book on maypole dances. So going to have a look. I was thinking for Darlington of getting maypole people in to help, but now feel that maybe we could do this without them and just do the dances ourselves. Watching back the video footage, the untangling was the most gameful, had the best element of challenge. Also rather than teaching them the moves, just leaving them to work it out themselves had a kind of Padia openness. Also was interesting in the untangling how some of them went the whole way around the circle in order to untangle the ropes, while others were static. Some decided to skip, and some stayed still, and some merely walked. It was interesting, how many gave instructions for directions, and how to perform while doing the maypole, skipping for instance. Though I did hear a comment that the person was too old to skip. Watching back the video, it is interesting the way the focus of the participants is on the poll, and making the barber pole pattern, rather than having an awareness of each other, or looking at each other. This causes physical clashes. So Even though group activity, it is like they are in a bubble as the concentrate on the weave. There is a hard pre Lusory goal, if you do the wrapping. It gives it a focus I didn’t realise when thinking this though, a real challenge with an end point of success for player/particpants.
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