Guerilla sewing for the city-as-flea-market
11.05.2012 - Johanna MacDonald
Sewing for good in the square behind Lasipalatsi.
Just bumped into this – a volunteer public sewing stand – yesterday on my way from A to B. Turns out it’s a preparation for Siivouspäivä, or “cleaning day”, which is a brilliant scheme from Alternative Design Capital. It’s all day tomorrow, Saturday May 12th. From their site:
“Clean up your attic and redecorate your home, as Cleaning Day will convert cities into giant flea markets on Saturday 12th of May. Anyone can sell or donate their furniture, clothes, gadgets and more, right on the street, and shop new ones from their neighbors. During this neat day one can also sell anything self-made.
Stands could be set anywhere you like, but please pay attention to other people and safety instructions and ask permission if it is needed. Cleaning day is a neat day, so take care of your stuff and clean up your mess also in public places.
On the map page you can browse the stands and search them by opening hours or different categories. Anyone with a Facebook account can add his own stand to the map regardless of its location, but it isn’t obligatory.”
Okay, it’s not exactly MoA, but can you deny its enthusiastic optimism? Besides, it’s exactly the time of year for students to sell everything they own before they start traipsing around Southeast Asia for eight months.
Johanna MacDonald
Our living.aalto.fi editor Johanna takes on Aalto Talk for the month of May, bringing you the Daily MoA blog - a steady flow of observations and information on what's been happening in Jätkäsaari and around town. With interests ranging from performance art to game culture to bike hacking to politics, expect her blog to be an infinitely curious take on all things MoA.
Johanna wears an awful lot of hats: performance artist, stand-up comic, writer, actor, designer, cycling nut, sport lover, cultural hacktivist--a surprising number of them professionally. She believes imagination makes the world go round.
