The Exchange: A story of resilience and adaptability in the midst of a pandemic
Almost a year ago, we welcomed Sarah Richardson and Helen Slevin from Filament (Wearefilament.co.uk) on a visit to our studio in Stroud, where they revealed their vision for a child-led interactive unit to tour the UK, sharing young people's opinions and ambitions to combat climate change. When the world stopped in March 2020, overcome by the coronavirus pandemic, Sarah and Helen were one of the first people to contact us saying “We honour our commitment to working with you and adapting this project to fit with the current situation”.
In a truly collaborative and iterative process, we continued to work on The Exchange throughout spring and summer, replacing the planned in-person schools workshops with a child-friendly design document, making the children our clients and asking them to do activities and feedback their opinions on how The Exchange unit would look and work.
Sarah and Helen continued to shape the project and as the most pressing topic of our time shifted from how to save the planet to how to survive lockdown, naturally the stories and soundbites they were receiving from the children changed too. The Exchange is now a testament to this unprecedented time, with children speaking about how they coped with the lockdown - the highs and lows - and their opinions about the NHS, politicians handling of the crisis, and the things they missed most in isolation.
The installation was successfully delivered to Filament in October 2020, making its first appearance at Peover Primary School in Cheshire. Future locations for the work will be determined next year.
Even though the content has changed dramatically through the course of the project, the initial concept for the design and interactivity has remained: The Exchange is a portable free-standing booth that functions similarly to the telephone exchanges used during the first half of the 20th century, where children (and adults) plug in a series of cords to connect to a voice on the end of the line, or to listen in on a dialogue that discloses the realities of homeschooling, of not being able to hug granny and daily PE sessions with Joe Wicks.
We’d like to thank Filament and the extended Stand + Stare team for all their hard work and flexibility in bringing this installation to fruition during such an unexpectedly difficult time - not only does The Exchange aptly record the experiences of young people living through a pandemic, it’s also a testimony to the adaptability and resilience of combined creative minds - a beacon of hope showing that in collaboration, we can find new ways of interacting and co-designing, no matter what curve balls come our way!
Head over to The Exchange project page to find out more about the project:
- Debs Hoy (creative producer)