The Thought Catcher: Ritual and a Cultural Probe: Are the rituals performed in the coffee shop experience just part of an illusion of busyness or importance, a facade? Where does the mind wander during those ritualistic experiences? What are the thoughts beneath the surface of ritual?
My Probe: A single blank nesting doll is left randomly on tables, with a kit for creation inside including, a sheet of paper with directions and small colored pencils.
The customer is first prompted to capture what they were thinking of the second before they encountered the doll and write that thought on a piece of paper that will then be rolled up and placed inside the nesting doll. They are then encouraged to imaginatively represent their coffee shop persona on the outer most doll (through drawing, color, writing, etc.) and prompted to create directly onto the blank canvas of the doll.
The directions read:
just a thought...
What were you thinking about the moment before you encountered this object? Capture in your mind that thought and hold it there. Record your thought on the back of this paper. Then open the doll to place it inside.
An image...
What is your coffee shop persona? Are you all business, a slow sipper, a day dreamer, a book reader, a socialite? Using the tools provided and your imagination create directly onto the blank canvas of the doll a representation–a sketch, a sentence, or perhaps a single word–of who you are and what you do while here in this coffee shop.
and finally...
Place your captured thought and tools back into the doll and leave it in the collection bin near the register.
Then visit www.justathoughtproject.com
to view other representations and thoughts as well as your own.
Some creativity during critique...
contributors: Cady Bean-Smith, Tania Allen & Lauren Waugh...
contributors: Denise Gonzales Crisp, Kelly Bailey & Laura Rodriguez...
