The story of Alien Sensation unfolds in Tingbjerg during the fall 2016. It is a story about a holiday camp for school children in the multicultural area situated just outside of copenhagen. It is also a story about the planet Dumdum where the line to the few tourist spaceships has grown to the length of 3,4 km. As a result the Alien Sensation Agency has been sent to Tingbjerg to collect the essence of the tourist attraction and bring it back to Dumdum in order to entertain the many waiting and impatient aliens.
When you scroll down you will see pictures from the process in chronological order.
Initially we started out with a very simple intervention in Tingbjerg as a way to get in contact with the local children and get insights on how they would spend their holiday. We rolled out a long paper cloth and asked bypassing children to make a drawing associated to the topic of holiday. As the pictures below reveal this method was efficient to get in contact not only with children but also adults in Tingbjerg.
Insights from the first meeting was synthesized back at the studio and as we realized that we still had a lot to learn about Tingbjerg we developed a concept around the idea of aliens as being outsiders and strangers. This allowed for us to explore the area and local community further in a playful way.
As a first prototyping of the idea Gulio was dressed as an alien with few, simple and cheap materials. We went for a tour in the neighborhood. The response from the local community and the children was positive. Guliodum became a figure in the local community during the next couple of weeks as he showed up at a local market and at the school.
Throughout the weeks we rehearsed activities and planned a programme for the holiday camp. For the holiday we alle dressed up as aliens. All the children that participated in the holiday camp had the chance to make their own masks and got Alien Sensation badges as physical props to state that we all played on the same team.
Together Aliens and children went out to explore Tingbjerg and collect the essence of the area. This was done by taking pictures with homemade pinhole cameras and by collecting things found in the area. By the end of the holiday all the collected pieces were exhibited in a local shed by the school.
This project was carried out as a teamwork between four co-students and in collaboration with Copenhagen Municipality, Kultur Nord.