Create a participatory installation with sticky notes.
If you love Subway Therapy and want to do something like it in your community, you should! It’s really fun to set one up, and it brings the community around you together.
Step 1: Pick a Good Spot
A good spot has some important elements. You’ll want lots of People around, a Wall or Surface people will stick the notes to, enough Space so you aren’t considered “in the way”, and most importantly, you should be Safe. Asking for permission is highly recommended. It’s great if you can partner with a local organization or agency that can provide you with a space you can create an installation at for longer than 1 day. Subway Therapy projects in the subway are put up and taken down every day, but if you have permission to leave the notes up for multiple days, that’s the best.
Step 2: Gather Your Materials
Get whatever you need to do your thing. You’ll need sticky notes and pens, and a table to put them on. These are the essentials, and from there you might want to bring a chair or two for yourself, or for participants to sit on while they write.
Part of gathering your materials is getting together anything you might need for the installation. This includes permits, equipment, and signage.
Step 3: Get a Group Together
I almost always do sticky note projects by myself, but I do not recommend it. It is difficult to set up and take down, and it’s not nearly as safe. I highly recommend doing these types of public works in a group of 2 or more. If you have a larger group, you can do more. Setup and take down is way faster, and it makes taking pictures and videos easier.
Step 4: Plan
Pick your place, date, and schedule. I usually set up shop on Fridays from 2pm-8pm in the 14th st/6th ave subway station. Have a schedule, and try to stick to it. If you are having an amazing time and want to leave it up for longer, that’s great, but taking it down is really important and the later into the night you go, the more fatigue you may have. Being tired makes for a rough take down. If you are going to share that you are doing this, now is the time. You will be writing a prompt of some kind, so choose that, and write it on sticky notes ahead of time so you don’t have to do it the day of.
Step 5: Set Up
Go with your team to set up at the spot you chose at the time you said you will be there. Get your table set up first. Then put up your prompt/question above the table. Set up any signs you may want to hang up. Put out sticky notes and pens on the table, and that’s pretty much it. I add extra signs on either side about 10 feet away from the table that say “Write Something!” but that’s just something I learned works in the NY subway. You may not have the space or need for something like that somewhere else.
Step 6: Stay Close, but Not Too Close
I often sit nearby but not at the main table with sticky notes and pens. Ultimately, I want people to have their own experience. I don’t want people to ask me if they can do it. It’s exciting to watch people figure it out on their own, and choose with their own power to participate. If they ask me if they can do it and I say yes, they are borrowing agency from me, and I try to avoid that. I always try to make this project about the people, and not about me. Sometimes weird stuff happens, or you might have to talk to an authority that wants you to leave. Be present so you can handle situations like these. If you are gone and someone writes terrible words all over many of the notes, that’s what people are going to see, and you want to be able to prevent situations like that by being a responsible facilitator.
Step 7: Take Down
Before you take anything down, take some pictures or video of the installation so you can document what it looked like at the end of the session. This is really important. If my installation goes from 2-8 I will start taking the notes down at 8. If I am by myself, it usually takes me 1.5 hours to take over 1k notes down. I have learned to ask the community for help, and it goes waaaaay faster. If you have a team, get your team to ask any participants that may be around to help. You can take the notes down in just a few minutes if you have a large group of people helping. Also ask that people are careful when they take them down, and stack them one right on top of the other. This will make it much easier for you at the end of the night to pack them without folding or bending the notes. They are super special, so collect all of them and keep them safe. If you aren’t going to share them in some way, reach out to me and I will help you find something to do with them. When you leave it should be as if you were never there. One of the beautiful aspects of this work is that the artwork is ephemeral, meaning it has a special quality because it only lasts a short time.
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