Email to Hayley

Sent today, October 4, 2008 9:58 pm

Ciao Hayley,
I thought today's cleaning went really well!
Would love to talk to you about it tomorrow at brunch, or at least some time soon - maybe at the opening reception tomorrow afternoon.

After leaving Union Square, some things came to mind:

Intentionality
As my group started to form, I felt I was at a loss about clarifying the intention of our cleaning pieces.
I would like to have been more direct with what I hoped the tone of the cleaning would be.

For our next sweeping performance, I would like to write to participants ahead of time to communicate more clearly what our intention is and to loosely suggest the roles of the participants.
For example, is Meaning Cleaning a silent meditation for the duration of one city block, or interactive over many blocks with pedestrian traffic?
Is the focus on the present moment, and if so, how can we communicate that better?

I'd like to discuss that with you and hear what your thoughts are and what the atmosphere was like in your group today.

Time/Duration
I suggest a shorter time period for the next group cleaning.
My group lost steam after 1.5 hours.

Distance
I suggest we limit the span of our cleaning performances to one or two city blocks, and give that distance our complete attention.
It could add to our intention, and could act as a physical parameter of the performance...
Quality, not quantity.
What are your thoughts on this?

Group size
I would like to work as a larger group, not two groups moving towards each other.
I missed you today, and feel we are a stronger team when we work side by side...
Also, without hundreds of people sweeping with us, I think one larger group of 10 people is more of a powerful statement than two smaller ones in the context of 14th street...

What to say to pedestrians
I'd like to write to participants to give them a general list of what is it we think Meaning Cleaning stands for/represents, and what they can say to passersby to support our intention of the piece itself...