Stick to the stick

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Lateral thinking

noun

"The solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light. Contrasted with vertical thinking."

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The task given is pretty straightforward. Stick to the stick. Take it with you everywhere you go, to the bathroom, shopping, and on transportation. The stick is 180cm long and 2x2cm thick, we are carrying it from 2023-01-08 to 2023-01-26.

Day 1: My initial thoughts were “this is unpractical” and “how can I find a way to carry this in the easiest way possible”. Maybe I can make a belt to hang it on vertically, to not knock people over by having it horizontally. Leaving the classroom feeling like Gandalf or a hiker going on an adventure, I walked towards the library to borrow the book Spatial Agency. On my way, I felt like this could be a weapon in case I’m in danger, will places let me in with this or will it be classified as dangerous? Arriving at the library the staff looking at my ID commented on the stick indicating that it was not for causing harm. I walked up the stairs with the stick as a help, I met a friend, and once again the stick was the center of attention. I continued towards the area where my book was located, and indoors I noticed that the stick became more of a walking help than when I was walking outside. I think that’s because I do not want it to get dirty on the ground outside. Walking back home after the library I focused on the easiest way to hold the stick. I was holding it in the middle pointing forward and backward. I already feel that people are looking when walking around with the stick. Going down to dinner in the evening was not a fun task knowing that I (or the stick) would be the eye-catcher of the room. Indeed, it was.

Day 2: Today has brought up many interesting conversations around the stick. Starting with breakfast, the stick brought all the attention again. A friend of mine joined me ad directly started to question it; he even took the stick for a test walk. I told him that bringing so many things up to my room would be difficult. He offered to help me carry the stick up to my room. On the way, he took the stick for a spin in the narrow space while waiting for the lift. Discussing different ways to bring the stick with me. At a meeting, I was told to put the stick somewhere else against a wall and not by the table. Maybe it was seen as an inconvenience. On my way back from the meeting, I spoke to two friends I met on the way, and once again the stick was the center of attention. Imagine ways to carry the stick.

Walking into the reception at my accommodation I was asked why I carry a stick, the guy in the reception had seen me with it three times and had to ask. I explained the experiment as another member of staff joined in on the conversation. She found it very interesting both from a spatial perspective and as a social experiment. We had a long discussion about how people react and ways to carry it and what to do with it in a space. I explained that I have used it to turn off my light in the room, and walking stick but also that I’m the center of attention as well as people meeting me move away from me or help me more.

I find it interesting how people engage in what to do with the stick as well, paint it, put clothes on it, make it foldable and my family even gave the stick a name.

Another thought about movement with the stick is that it makes it so much more difficult. I have gotten stuck indoors, it was difficult to fit into a car and the shape of it is not the most comfortable to hold.

Day 3: It was sunny today so I went outside with the stick to read a book I borrowed in the library “Working at the Intersection, Architecture after the Anthropocene edited by Harriet Harriss and Naomi House.” I was sitting on a bench with the stick next to me feeling like I had some sort of company all the time. I had a phone call with my family still very engaged in the stick. I took a walk in the evening to watch the sunset and two women looked very happy to see me walking with the stick.

Day 4: I took the stick with me to see some friends and once again the stick starts very interesting conversations. Unfortunately, the stick couldn’t come with me out in the evening because I would not have been allowed into the pub with a stick. The stick would most likely be seen as a weapon and they would probably not let me in.

Day 5: When I’m walking outside something I think about is that when I must cross the road, I need to adjust the way I hold the stick to not be too long and hit the cars.

Day 6: I’m thinking about how I’m holding the stick, sometimes it is like a walking cane and sometimes I hold it horizontally. The shape of it is not the most comfortable to hold on to.

Day 7: Been inside today and have turned on and off the light with the stick. Moving it around in the space, lifting it to the ceiling, leaning it against the wall, and putting it on the floor.

Day 8: Brought the stick with me out today and I am reflecting on how the stick makes people behave around me. Like a bubble that people avoid going inside, it creates a distance but at the same, the stick is connecting me and extending me to areas or surfaces. I have realized that you can see the stick from a Holistic view. Make the stick a whole by connecting it to an individual or the surroundings.

Day 9: I went to the restaurant in the evening to see a friend. Directly asked about the stick and took a picture of me with it. I wanted a picture with the stick in the sunset before we went in to eat. I wanted to see how the stick would “blend in” with the surroundings in the best way possible. See the picture down below. No one commented on the stick and most of the night the staff seemed to not notice the stick. Maybe they accepted it and didn’t want to draw any attention to it. Maybe they were pretending that it was a normal thing.

Day 10: Last day with the stick, walking into the university with the stick. You can easily spot the students that are studying Spatial Design. It has been a unique and interesting journey with the stick, that has required some confidence and determination.

Extra: One of the days I went in a car, it was not the easiest task with the stick. It was a small car, and the stick was almost as long as the car itself. But with some cooperation we made it work.