To help our group with Cafe research, I made a survey which was a similar design to the surveys the Collection Gallery asks the visitors to feel out when they visit. We thought of using surveys to find out why people come to the cafe and to see the age and type of people who use the cafe. An example of the survey is attached here in this blog: cafe research survey
As well as using the surveys for research purposes we are also going to use them in our piece. For instance, we are going to make placards which will include data retrieved from the surveys and put them on the tables where people filled them out. This will make the cafe into an exhibition which is our main aim for the part of the piece which takes part in the cafe. Other placards will also be created from verbatim; conversations and observations we have overheard and seen in the cafe. Each placard will be dated, with a quote and the name of the person who overheard it. The placard layout will be very similar to this which is an example of a placard found next to a piece of artwork in the Collection gallery:
Our group experimented with the placard idea in one of the sessions held at the Collection gallery by showing the rest of the Collection group the idea for the placards. The feedback was positive with people saying it was a good idea and the placards were easily noticed. Some suggestions were for the pieces of paper to be brightly coloured so it would make the pieces of text even more obvious however, at this stage we’ve decided to keep the placards white with back writing on so they resemble the placards you find next to pieces of art in the Collection gallery. Other suggestions also included putting the placards on other objects in the cafe and not just the tables. For example, on the plant pots and high chairs as well as using the windows and the tables and chairs outside the cafe. This suggestion helped fuel our initial idea of connecting the outside space with the cafe and the education room but we were unsure how exactly. Therefore using the placards on the windows and the tables outside we should successfully be able to connect all three.