Imagine the city covered in hearts on Valentine’s Day.  So many people love this city, and here is a way to express that love.   On Valentine’s Day, anyone walking alone in the city may see a heart poking out from a corner, and perhaps a smile will creep on their lips.  A heart that is not commercial, a heart placed not for a single person, but for anyone who walks by.  We want to give a medium for people, to encourage them to freely express their affection through this simple symbol, and re-conceive the purpose of Valentine’s Day, as not a huge commercial endeavor, but a chance to just show anyone- maybe even a city- you love them.

This was a collaborative project organized with Jason Edward Davis in Portland, OR.  We organized a booth in the Love show to spread the idea and materials, and on the night of February 13th, 2009 we placed hearts around the city with dozens of Portlanders.  The following are the notes preceding the project, and documentation of its progress.

Concepts

Ephemeral art is essential in this project because the intention does not involve littering or graffiti.  Creating hearts that are biodegradable, or will come out in the rain is essential.  Possible mediums include chalk, newspaper, construction paper, powder, and natural materials like sticks, dirt, or stones.

While exploring East Berlin, one can’t help but notice the wealth of street art.  Its all around, and after wandering a few days in that city I felt the dialogue the artists had with the city dwellers.  Walking in the city, daydreaming, thinking about different things, and these artists’ works would penetrate my thoughts.  The street art is for the public, and its free to view.  Its a similar dialogue and notion of art free for all that PDX I Love you seeks.

The intention is to cover as much of the city as possible with hearts.  This is a large scale project, and in order to meet that scale we take into account the concepts of networks and how information and action flows through them.  In order to scale to the size of the city, the execution is from the bottom up.  We offer simple guidelines, without any core structure, to allow groups to grow organically.  There is the option to meet at the love show, or to message us to find groups.  With groups forming anywhere, and without reinforcing certain locations, it becomes possible to have hearts emerge all around the city without having a single individual put each one up.

Documentation

The messages sent out and development of the project was maintained on pdxiloveyou.blogspot.com

Soon after spreading the word of the project began, the curator of the Portland Love Show, Ben Pink, welcomed PDX I Love you into the show.  We set up a booth there where we spread the message and also materials to heart the city.

On Valentine’s Day and for weeks after it was fun to look out for hearts and hear about hearts that were seen around town.  For the most part the project was incredibly fulfilling because of its general uplifting outlook and giving nature.  People became inspired about the idea, and we were excited by enthusiastic responses.

Posted on December 18th, 2009 under Projects. Tags: 2009, Art, Ben Pink, complexity, emergence, ephemeral, heart, information, Jason Edward Davis, large-scale, Love, multi-scale, natural, network, non-hierarchy, PDX, PDX Love Show, performance, Portland, reclaim, social practice, street art, Valentine's Day