WORD FROM YOUR NEIGHBOR!

Our wonderful neighborhood here in Lancaster, PA has a very lively neighborhood facebook page. And while that liveliness can bring helpful posts (about school fundraisers and free items), it also comes the inevitable downside: the Chestnut Hill Neighbor rant and dueling post fights. After a couple months of particularly vitriolic backs and forths, we couldn’t help but wonder: would folks be saying these same things if they had some time to think about it before posting? What if, before posting, they had to have an artist write it on a big chalkboard that would go up in a store window? Would it change what they said to each other? Modern Art decided to give it a try with a project we call “Word from your Neighbor: A real live message board.” After whipping up some signage and instructions, we set up a message writing station on an old post box right outside our studio and invited passers-by to write a message to a specific neighbor, or to the hood in general. Once written, they could drop the note in one of the provided envelopes and slip it through our mail slot. Everyday, upon arrival, we’d right one of the messages on the chalkboard in our front window for all the world to see.