Report as of August 9th, 2021

Introduction

Coming from the idea of a space entertainer—somebody who transformed a space, and brought joys to people—I came up with the project Fite, as a way to connect with the local community, and to bring an easter egg to people’s life.    

During the making of the piece, the other project’s purpose was to understand people’s opinion and response to arts in public spaces

I had been thinking about doing something like this for more than half a year, and a small encounter that I experienced gave me the courage to start the project:

The Story

Recorded June 3rd:

I can say that while I was running yesterday, I saw a rock that is painted in simple colors placed near a light pole in Fargo. While the rock was tiny, and it might not seem special, something that a kid would do, it really gave a different dimension to the space as its intention was pure. 

Process

Throughout the project, I created small pieces laying around the local area, without permanently damaging the already existing infrastructure through the use of tying yarn. 

Using a QR code embedded in the works, I was able to collect people’s responses, and was delighted to see the feedback that I was getting. 

I believe that I have made a total of around 40 pieces, however, I have only hung around 30 of those pieces, the images below included pieces that I created and have placed around the area so far. At this point, you are probably like, why didn’t you hang it all? I was a bit tired, because each hanging trip often takes a long time under sunny conditions to look around for spots—I could write a whole entire page about choosing the “perfect” spot to hang the works. 

Anyway the way, the questions that I asked was: 

Where did you find this object?(Ex: Bridges, sidewalks,…)

Do you frequently walk this path? (Yes or No)

What is your opinion on arts in public spaces?

How did you feel when you first saw this thing? 

Other comments?

Some responses that I got and my reflection

As of August 9, there are 117 responses.

Here are some of my favorite responses from each question, and yes, I picked the longer written one—none of them have been edited for authenticity. There will also be artist’s notes around, which is my note 🙂

Where did you find this object?(Ex: Bridges, sidewalks,…)

We will skip this one, however, most people find my Easter eggs near benches or bridges. I mean, we either walk or sit right? (Not a good joke)

Do you frequently walk this path? (Yes or No)

Around 75% said yes, and 25% said no. This stayed quite consistent, maybe I should use my statistical skill? (joke)

What is your opinion on arts in public spaces?

I love it. Expresses the creativity of people in our community and really can make a quick bike ride so much more fun.

very important. helps bring communities closer while also promoting the arts and individuals within the career! 

It’s neat and cool as fuck 

Love it! Unexpected art is the best art.

All for it! As long as it doesn’t interfere with any nature!

i think it’s beautiful and i would like to see more around fargo. 

Love and appreciate art…. public and private!

I like them. They’re like discovering a treasure

I love it! Its nice to see a splash of colour amongst the everyday drab and repetition 

Dumb waste of money

Artist’s note: Don’t blame you

MORE. The children I was with were so excited to see the art.

not enough by a long shot

Awesome! Change of scenery 

Love to see local art in public places.

Highly important. Would love to get involved here in Fargo!

My note: Well, I am spamming at this point but you probably get the idea. Most people who saw the works support public arts, and to see something unexpected excites them. Honestly, I was thinking of only making 15 pieces until I started to read the responses that were coming in and it helped fuel my urge to make more works. Talking about that, maybe I should hang the rest of the pieces!

How did you feel when you first saw this thing? 

I thought I had seen a bright orange sign that was out of place, so I checked it out and now I’m here!

i had done one before so i got really excited

Confused 

Curious – thought maybe it was a scavenger hunt

I said “Wtf is it”

Excited because it’s the second one we saw 

It made me happy and it was really cool!

Happy! Like I had found an adult Easter egg! 

I though it was a geocache 

Confused cuz why is there something in a portapotty

Artist’s note: it was funny in the moment

It’s ugly. 

It’s kinda ugly

Artist’s note: Don’t blame you for thinking it is ugly

excited because when i first left for my walk i saw one on the bridge across the road

Vandalism very bad

It looked like a piece of a skateboard 

Pleasantly surprised. I love the vibrant colors.

Woah look at that thing I want to scan that real bad 

I felt like I had seen something similar in the area before, but without the code. Gave me a bright feeling, like many more people use and are connected to this space than I see on my runs.

My note: The spamming problem happens again, but there is mostly this confused feeling, and then move into something brighter, like excitement or happiness. To the person that said vandalism, very bad: I would say it is littering. While making the project, the feeling of perplexed then happiness when seeing these things was what I anticipated, and I am glad that it makes their day better—the role of a space entertainer fits well here. 

Other comments?

i skateboard this path several times a week. i’m a music educator. support the arts!

Artist’s note: Thank you for this comment, this was one of the first responses that I got, and your comment helped me to make more.

This is such a cool thing!

I hope we find another 

Artist’s note: Hope that you found another

I’m glad to be involved. I feel included a

Thanks for neat art on my walk and something to do!

thank you ily

I would love to see more artwork by local artists out and about!

Keep up the great work! Would like to see bigger art pieces 

Artist’s note: Somebody talking about bigger art pieces?

Adds a bit of fun and Whimsy to the trail

It was a fun discovery on my walk today! Made my day! Thanks:)

Love the choice of colors 

Artist’s note: Ye, home depot’s selection of colors wasn’t too bad

Thanks for making this walk more interesting!

It was a fun discovery on my walk today! Made my day! Thanks:)

Thanks for the smile

Maybe need a little better spot. You can’t sit on the bench in that spot because it’s on the back rest. It also looks kind of tacky because it wrapped around with yarn. But the idea is good, maybe just need a better way of presenting it. 

Artist’s note: Thought about how people are gonna sit, but, hey, keep walking!

I found another piece of painted wood similar to this one near the golf course, but it did not have a QR code in it. 

Artist’s note: If you guys have gone this far reading this, let me explain. So for my first batch, I kinda messed up… I didn’t know that there were such things as active QR code and such, so I used a service for my QR code and when I ran out of trial, I couldn’t use that QR code again. Lazy to explain, but a mistake on my part—wasted 30 scans :(. Did force me to go out and hang more work for more responses though…

I think this is really cool! been meaning to scan for a while, but I didn’t have a QR scanner app, until I realized my camera could scan!

Artist’s note: We learn something new every day:)

Would love to be more involved in the arts, and in the production of public art here in Fargo! This is just what the city needs, keep up the good work!

My note: Thank you for all the thanks, there were some troll comments—can’t escape that, didn’t include them, you know…

Reflection

I am lazy writing at this point, but the project was a breath of fresh air. Haven’t read all the responses for a while, but reading them while writing this report was a pleasure. I still remember reading the first few responses that I got after a day of hanging the first few pieces, and sensing this rush through my body, of me wanting to make more, to create something that makes people happy in an unexpected way. While not visually impressive or pushing any boundaries, this project—I am gonna name it Fite—has an important role in me realizing my “thesis” and thought process. It gives me the feeling and rush of leaving works in public spaces, and to see the importance and impact of public arts is a great experience. I probably have nothing more to say about this project than a great first building block of something “interesting”—I don’t even know what it is going to be.