Bus Stop Karaoke
Signe Lindgren
Jeppe Lindø Sigaard
Jakob Groth
Marie Meldgaard
Concept:
Our concept of the whole invisible theater idea was to place one of us at a bus stop with an iPod and headphones on, and then start to sing along to the music out loud.
We tried it four times, two times at Klostertorv and two times at Busgaden. The first two times only one person was involved in the act, singing to the music, the third time one person was singing while a second person was making comments of the singing to other people (like, "what's going on", "what's wrong with him" and so on). The fourth time one of us started to sing, then after a while a second and a third person, also placed at the busstop, would sing along, as if: "Oh, I know this song, I'm gonna sing along, too". An ideal result of this act would be if some of the spect-actors would also sing along.
We recorded all of the four acts, though it was a bit difficult to record it unnoticed by the "spect-actors".
We chose a bus stop as our location as it is a place where people place themselves in a waiting position. It is quite unlikely that people would leave, even if the situation becomes awkward for them (for instance our act), as they then would miss their bus. The bus stop is also a place where people mind their own business, although they are in close contact with other people. They surround themselves with a kind of intimate sphere, and then in a way try to ignore the public space they actually are situated in.
We wanted to see how people react when somebody at the bus stop breaks that intimate sphere and act as if she/he was behind an involvement shield and doesn't pay attention to that particular place's involvement idiom (Goffman).
The acts:
1st act: Marie singing at Klostertorv: "Den bedste tid", One Two
The song was too high pitched, which made Marie seem a bit hysterical (sorry, Marie…). Signe was recording, but she didn't hide it too well, so people could easily have noticed it. We only had a few reactions to this act, some people started talking about singing, some girls laughed together, but nobody seemed to be uncomfortable in the presence of Marie singing.
2nd act: Signe singing at Busgaden: "A case of you", Joni Mitchell
The song was better and the location also, since there was a bench where Signe decided to sit, and it was easier to record it here without getting noticed. The reactions were many. Everybody turned their back on the singer, and it was obvious that nobody wanted to get in physical contact with her. A girl who already sat on the bench moved away, and everyone who needed to see the bus schedule did their best to not touch or get close to Signe. A man made a little sarcastic dance to amuse his wife and children, some laughed (and the "wife" tried her best not do it loud), some children were curious and pointed at Signe, some friends just talked about what was going on.
3rd act: Jeppe singing at Busgaden: "Englishman in New York", Sting
Jeppe was standing, not sitting, and he didn't stand close to other people. He only sang along with the chorus. Jakob tried to comment on the singing to two guys at the bus stop. It didn't lead to a full conversation, but they agreed about Jeppe being annoying and they exchanged a few comments. Two old people literally stared at Jeppe throughout the song.
4th act: Signe, Marie and Jeppe singing at Klostertorv: "Det glade pizzabud", Rasmus Nøhr
Signe started out and Marie joined her at the chorus. When Signe began her singing a girl next to her took a big step in the opposite direction, the direction of where Marie stood, so when Marie also started singing she was 'trapped' between the two, and she obviously didn't know what to do about herself. A few people made fun, but others were quite happy about the singing. Some started talking about Rasmus Nøhr, the song's artist, others commented it as nice and entertaining.
5th act: We all went to get hot chocolate at a cafe because it was Jeppe's birthday.
Conclusion:
The first act (the one Marie did), maybe looked too much like a performance, and therefore it didn't shock anyone, and didn't cause any reactions worth mentioning. But the two acts in Busgaden looked in some way more natural, and the crowd where obviously making a distance to Signe and Jeppe, probably because they seemed a little too strange, and therefore contained an element of danger (maybe the spectators felt that this "stangeness" was contagious).
The 4th act where there were more than one subject singing, we felt that the singing got a different (mainly positive) reception. The reason for this, must be that if you are just one person singing, you're a little too freaky, but in that moment others join your "project", it will instantly be (or more likely seem) more widely accepted for the spectators, and therefore it gets a more positive reception.
There was a difference in the reactions of people who waited alone at the bus stop and people who waited together. People who were alone seemed frightened or repelled by the performer, while people together were more likely to seem amused. Except for the one time when Jakob tried to contact some of the spectators, it didn't seem that the acts made people talk or even exchange looks, which we had thought could be one reaction to our project.
Afterwards we talked about what it would be like to make the same project in Copenhagen or in a smaller town in the wild west of Jutland or in a city in the south of Europe, say Madrid. Would the reactions be different? Would it be realistic to get people to sing along anywhere?
