Guaranteed to lift your mood, and not as dirty as we’ve made it sound. Promise!
Between rent hikes, transport meltdowns, and paying for a bloody pint, London is a tough old city to survive sometimes. Luckily, a new art installation at the Tate Modern will brighten your day and bring out your inner child. Yesterday, Danish art collective SUPERFLEX began a six-month residence in Turbine Hall, aiming to make you laugh and think at the same time. How exactly? By putting you on a big swing set with complete strangers, of course.
One Two Three Swing! is a fully interactive project, and hopes to get you talking to the strangers whom you normally avoid like the plague. True, this is a pretty foreign concept to Londoners, but give it a chance and you might surprise yourself!
It begins with a giant swinging silver ball, which hovers back and forth over a very fetching striped carpet. Here is your chance to be super lazy before the hard work begins; just lie on the floor, watch the pendulum swing, and take a nap if the mood takes you. Apparently London is lazier than we thought, because this was easily the most popular option during our visit.
Napping was the easy part though, as your next challenge involves actually doing something. Grab a seat on one of the three-person swings which fill the main hall, but find some pals first since swinging alone is no fun. Much like a school drama lesson though, you’ll have to find new partners rather than immediately club together with your friends. SUPERFLEX hope that collaborating with strangers to get the swing moving will teach you about community and collective action. Naturally, Secret London hope that you and your new friends can swing higher than everyone else, because we’re super mature.
SUPERFLEX have grand plans for these swings – they’ll begin installing them around London and beyond in the next few months. Visitors can suggest where they should be put, so fingers crossed that Secret London HQ gets a few votes (hint hint)!
Entrance to the exhibit is free, and it will run from October 3rd until April 2nd, 2018. Honestly, it’s a lot more fun than talking to strangers on the tube, and you don’t need a silly badge to do it.
Why not stop in at one of these great restaurants near Tate Modern afterwards?
Also published on Medium.