#homelessnighthub madeleine hodge
Title: sleeping on the streets Audience: the community Location: state library steps Time/date: tuesday 04/01/2014 @ 10:30am Duration: 2 hours
Intervention Summary: the purpose of this intervention was to see how interested the public is in helping homeless people. so many times in the city i have seen people walk straight past homeless people like they are not even there, so i wanted to see whether they would do the same when i lay amongst the chalked outlines.
3 _ Introduction
Madeleine Hodge
Installations one + two
University of Melbourne
Installation three
State library steps
Site
I chose a couple of sites including union house at melbourne university and the state library steps. I chose these sites because i wanted there to be plenty of foot traffic,which my site does not currently have. The state library was my key site, as it is a symbol of social progress; a place where alot of social protests and marches have been held.
5_ Site Madeleine Hodge
6 _ Design
Madeleine Hodge
The design of this intervention was simple. Find busy streets and be outlined in chalk in Sleeping positions. Some of the interventions Had ‘homelessness’ writen above them. All the installations had a page taped beside Them saying;
More than 1300 people in melbourne are homeless Many of them are forced to sleep on the streets Show your support to help these people Take photos + share on social media with the hashtag #isupportthehomeless or like homeless night hub on facebook After the lack of responses at melbourne university i decided to put multiple people all curled up amongst each other to create more of an impact. I used different colours of chalk. I also spent time amongst the chalked outlines to see if that might make more people look.
The installation only took minutes to create; drawing the outlines around myself and them colouring them in.
9 _ Installation
Madeleine Hodge
Observations: The first two installations were done at union House south at the university of melbourne. Many people seemed interested whilst I was being in chalk, but once the installation was complete no one seemed to notice it or even stop to read it.
One girl came + asked me if I was okay while being chalked [it looked as though i had collapsed]. After not much response at University of Melbourne. The next installation took place outside the state library.
After drawing one body a man came a photographed it [+ put it on instagram]. Many people came + looked as we continued to draw more + more chalk people. Like at the previous installations once It was complete, not many people stopped to read the sign - although most people would atleast look at the installation. I decided to lie amongst the installation to create more of a response, and atleast 70% of people walking past would look at the Installation (alot of people looked at it very briefly and them moved on.
Alot of people took photos + talked about the hashtag, but they did not appear on social media. I was amazed at the number of people that did not look at me whilst I was crumpled on the ground. I really could see what it must be like to live on the streets - you really would feel like a second class citizen.
No one asked me whether i was okay, although several people asked my mum who was on site with me [how they knew to ask her i am not sure].
11 _ Observations
Madeleine Hodge
Conclusion: When I decided to do this intervention, I was after something more artistic + open-ended than the first intervention; i didn’t want to lead people to say of course they care, like what may happen in a written survey or face to face.
I was a little disappointed that i did not get as many responses as i had hoped, but i think this is generally a sign of modernity; people are used to seeing strange things happening in the cbd all the time.
Alot of people definitely looked at the installation, particularly when i was lying amongst it. I was shocked at the number of people that did not even look or do anything about it. I read a story about a homeless man in Melbourne that died on the street of heat exhaustion + he lay there for a full day before anyone realised he was dead. despite this alot of people did stop + read the sign + take photos, but did not take it further.
I need to encourage people to stop being passive about Homelessness + incite the desire for change. I think this is why a bigger campaign is needed to really remind and encourage people to donate.
Moving forward i think a mix of kickstarter + traditional avenues of promotion would suit this project; advertising material like charities but also providing rewards or experiences like kickstarter projects to provide maximum donations.
13 _ Conclusion
Madeleine Hodge