I guess what interests me about this for the publication, is setting up a network, members and non-members. How do you identify members of the group? How do people join the group/network? What are the rules once you join? How do you interact with members/non-members? How do memebers of a group communicate?
I also like the promotion of the event, just using stickers, flyers and some info on a website. Just the way that something that has a lot references, a lot of depth about social networks, social interaction, communication and so on. Can be done very simply with a lot of humour.
I also laughed at the Marshall McLuhan massage reference but nearly two years on the MA has made me a bit sad like that.
Rubbing Shoulders
"Everyone is invited to join the Rubbing Shoulders social network,
promoted on billboards in the city by Grennan and Sperandio's cartoons
and identified by specially designed stickers that every member of the
network will wear. When meeting people across the city: strangers in
the network overcome social barriers with a secret handshake; those
that know each other already give/receive back rubs; when meeting
non-members, they play with keeping them out of their 'personal space
bubble.' A truly citywide art project that aims to, "bring the people
of Manchester closer together."
Rubbing Shoulders is a project on safe hands-on social networking. On
joining the Rubbing Shoulders social network, people are given a set of
instructions on how to interact with people known and unknown:
- When meeting people NOT in the Rubbing Shoulders social network,
participants are instructed not to let them enter their 'personal space
bubble.' This causes playful scenes as people in queues and in crowds
try to maintain a distance of 50cm between themselves and others around
them. - When meeting other people who ARE in the Rubbing Shoulders social
network, people are able to greet each other with a secret handshake.
This highly formal social interaction can be a discussion point on how
different people usually greet each other. - On meeting someone else in the social network they know very well,
members ask each other if they have a stiff neck. If the answer is yes,
and if they are invited, they give/receive back rubs as an antidote to
online social networking and the back problems caused by hours hunching
over the computer.
The medium is the massage."
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