This work was made in response to a grant through Cardinia Council with a brief that asked for public work that responds to the new ways of being and moving through public spaces post Covid.

Please Stand Here is a participatory work that responds to Covid -19 by inviting a re-activating of our public spaces. We’ve seen public space closed, perspex screens go up and tape, stickers and signage on floors of civic shared spaces directing us how to move and behave in public. Most participatory works require a tactile response from an audience. This project requires participants use only their feet. Using stencils and temporary spot marking paint, a series of directional diagrams are created along pathways and hard surfaces in local parks and squares. In the style of old dance charts, with dotted lines, arrows and simple bold symbols these diagrams beckon intergenerational and all abilities participation. They act as a follow the leader style intervention that serves to disrupt the everyday narrative of the site. By interpreting and following the directional diagrams around the site of the work, participants can interact and move in various ways through the space. This work responds to the site. It is created differently in each different space it is placed, varying in length, width and patterning, according to the available space.

They are to be installed at Emerald Hills Hub and Pakenham Cultural Centre as well as various parks in Cardinia Shire over the coming weeks.

One of the 4 reasons we can leave home when in lockdown, is for exercise. As restrictions ease we will again see a reactivating of our public spaces by the community. This simple, active, physical based work invites our community back out to play. The work is visually striking and bold. The public might stumble upon this by accident or they may seek it out. It hopes to engage people to explore the neighbourhood again and engage in a familiar space in a new and unfamiliar way. Post quarantine we are entering a new human era, the ways we move through our shared spaces has shifted. The mark making of signs, symbols and code are literally inviting our community to take those first steps outside our homes and into the post pandemic world.

The dance chart style and neon colours invokes a sense of fun and celebration, and echoes the playfulness that people around the world have tapped into whilst in lockdown to connect with one another in so many creative ways, from sharing and playing music from their apartment balconies, to placing images rainbows in their windows and using social media to foster global connections. The idea was to make a gesture, a temporary public art piece for people to discover on their daily walk that is meets social distancing regulations whilst providing an opportunity to engage with an artwork that is of the moment. Post Covid there is a need to reactivate and invigorate our public spaces, celebrate our increased ability to move within them once again and mark this unique time in out history.

Please Stand Here invites a small everyday adventure to unfold amongst yet another day of post Covid life.