On a recent visit to the New Museum in Manhattan, I experienced an exhibit (also in digital form) by Rivane Neuenschwander (a social organizer and artist), entitled “A Day Like Any Other.” The artist's work effectively triggers an intellectual, emotional, and tactualrelationship with each visitor. In fact, her “A Day Like Any Other” is more effective that many social media campaigns or crowdsourcing efforts, gathering meaningful personal user information that is usually difficult to collect. There is also no bombarding the viewer with marketing messages all day, every day.
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So why is Rivane’s exhibit so effective? Her exhibit in part benefits from the fact that it is colorful and simplistic, and effectively triggers a personal cause-related “call to action” response from many visitors. It is also unique because it does not discriminate; most people have a dream or wish they would like to see come true for themselves or someone else. Rivane requests that you make an anonymous wish on a small piece of paper, roll it into a column-like shape, take out an existing wish ribbon (you get to keep a stranger's wish), and replace it with your own. The artist will then print the new wish (if it is selected) on a new colored ribbon, and place it in that location on her exhibit wall.
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Rivane selects new wishes after her exhibit has been displayed for several weeks or months in a city, choosing the ones she believes are unique or have not yet been displayed. The exhibit then moves on to a new city or country.
Here are a few of the several thousand ribbon wishes at its current location in Manhattan:
I Wish For World Peace
I Wish For Cancer Cures
I Wish For Love And Career Success
I Wish For Peace In The Middle East
I Wish For A Happy Life Free From Pain And Sadness
I Wish Humanitarian People Were Chosen As Leaders Of Nations
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