In Cie. Willi Dorner`s project “bodies in urban space” a group of dancers created trails around different cities. They made their bodies seem lifeless and placed themselves in certain spots as if part of – and thus underlining or contradicting – the architectural or utilitarian structures of the city. “Bodies in urban space” was intended to “point out the urban functional structure and to uncover the restricted movement possibilities and behaviour as well as rules and limitations.” (http://www.ciewdorner.at/index.php?page=work&wid=26) This performance called attention to inanimate things such as signs, stairs, doorways and benches but by the shaping of the bodies around them, people passing by perceived the objects and the spaces in a new way. This idea is something which our project connects to. Chairs, tables, shelves and trolleys serve certain functions and are essential to the working processes of the library. They belong to the equipment which is needed to facilitate the purposes of the library. At the bottom of the stairs trolleys are stored when they are not needed. For our final project we are taking those trolleys and exploring 101 things to do with them – 101 alternative ways to use them and to take them away from their utilitarian existence. We are aspiring to make the trolleys seem different from how they are usually perceived and therefore change the space they are part of.
The work for our project started with the collection of ideas and the creation of a list of 101 things to do with a library trolley. We then divided that list between the four of us so that everyone is responsible for 25/26 things. We want the project to have a sense of challenge and urgency and to be a sort of “working through” our 101 “tasks”. Therefore we are going to do it all in one day. We have estimated a rough time period for each thing and are expecting the project to last from 8am until 4pm in the very least, giving us plenty of time to prolong if needed. We made a schedule to keep track of who has to be where to do what at any given time. Some of the 101 things only require one of us, some 2 or 3 and some of them require all four of us. Therefore, a lot of the time two things are going to happen at the same time. The next thing each of us had to do individually was to make a list of the equipment we would need for our assigned tasks and think about how to rehearse them. We have thought about which of the things we would have to try out or rehearse and we have decided on other things we would do just once on the day to lend spontaneity to the project.
The 25 things I am responsible for are:
1. Arranging the trolleys outside the library
2. Washing the trolleys
3. Filling the lift with trolleys
4. Replacing books with props
5. Replacing books with clothes
6. Replacing books with food
7. Wrapping a trolley with someone in it
8. Wrapping a trolley with newspaper
9. Wrapping a trolley with toilet paper
10. Wrapping a trolley and attaching pages of novels
11. Putting a large box over a trolley
12. Reading while being pushed on a trolley
13. Painting while being pushed on a trolley
14. Doing Yoga on a trolley
15. Creating an Aquarium
16. Making a trolley into a piece of art
17. Collecting objects to create a piece of art
18. Making books out of play dough
19. Secret mail
20. Construction site
21. Using a trolley as a bag
22. Comments-about-drama-projects-trolley
23. Classic Literature trolley
24. Taking a trolley everywhere
25. Walking around with the trolleys