flash mobs

Esta moda é verdadeiramente deliciosa… Um bando de gente que não se conhece, que recebe um e-mail a marcar um encontro, onde recebe as instruções num papel… e que depois provoca um happening apenas porque sim! Acho a ideia romântica.

Adorei algumas coisas que li sobre isso…

um comentário no Slashdot:
I was a part of one of these, and let me tell you it was a riot. One of the rules was you couldn’t initiate conversation with anyone and that answers to questions were scripted. We stayed together for 5 minutes and dispersed, no one having said a word. It was surreal but wonderful, especially the looks on the normal people’s faces, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
Triv

outro comentário mais longo no Slashdot:
this looks a lot like some of the behavior engaged in the past (and present) by the the San Francisco Cacophony Society http://sf.cacophony.org/.

The increasing capacity for spontaneous social expression via the network is going to get a boost, now that *everyone* who is within proximity of a prank has a chance to participate.

Yet another example of new social behaviors that emerge spontaneously at the ‘edge’ of the network.

It’s be interesting to see what new kinds of mass social behavior develop, and which ones manage to survive, and become institutionalized.

As long as no one gets hurt, we could use a little levity.

As stated on the SF Cacophony site: “The Cacophony Society is a randomly gathered network of individuals united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society through subversion, pranks, art, fringe explorations and meaningless madness. ”

Here’s an excerpt about one past activity:

Mad Santa Crawl:
“each year at christmastime a crowd of santas descends upon one of san francisco’s most-touristed neighborhoods to get drunk, to hand out disturbing gifts, and to frighten tourists.

on december 16, 2000 a santa faction drove to a ranch in petaluma, spent the afternoon discharging firearms, then joined the rest of the santas for the evening’s festivities in san francisco. about 150 santas took over grant street in chinatown, and they eventually headed up into north beach.”

e também num artigo da Salon.com:
“You’re freaking out the squares,” said Ryan, Melanie’s boyfriend, a 20-something with a broad face and dark hair. Bill, the organizer, who actually is from Maryland, disagrees: “If you’re walking down the street and you see all these people, and you’re like, what the heck is that, you’re suddenly on the inside of the joke also — you don’t know any less than these people do. There isn’t an elitist impulse, it’s intended to be a mob — to be as large as possible.”

Pressed again to explain the point of the Mob Project, Bill stumbled a little: “There are different aspects, for which different people like it. For me, the point is to transform the space around us — and I don’t mean in the pretentious way that it sounds. In New York we encounter crowds every day, but they’re crowds in which we’re kind of in competition with everybody else there — like we’re all trying to get on the same subway train. Our attitude is, ‘I wish these other people weren’t there.’ And, to me, the idea of the mob is to create a crowd that wasn’t there before, for no reason, to change the flow of where people are in the city. And suddenly to have people appear in a place and then dissipate — it’s a cooperative thing.” He pauses. “It really is for no reason.”

vejam ainda:
o artigo do Sentinel.

cheesebikini.com
satanslaundromat.com
moistandtasty.com
smartmobs.com
meetup.com
flocksmart.com

E a cobertura no Repubblica do primeiro flash mob em Roma.