#67 THE POLITICAL DRAWBOX

Our idea today is inspired by the artist Nazanin Zandi and aims to bring people into contact with political issues in a creative way. Here's how it works:

A box is placed in various locations where many people pass by. This could be a train station, a petrol station, an office waiting area, a city festival or the queue outside a soccer stadium. Inside the box is a creative person, equipped with paper and pens. Through a slit in the box, people passing by can slip notes into the box with their thoughts and answers to a question attached to the box. Such questions could be, for example:

Where and how do you already encounter politics today?
What are you politically involved in?
What does democracy mean to you?

The questions could also refer to current political events or debates and thus enable the participants to position themselves on current issues. They could also include small thought experiments and be combined with the miracle question, for example: "Imagine, for example, that sexism, racism or unfavorable conditions for a good debate culture have disappeared overnight, but you don't know anything about it yet. How do you notice it first?"

The person in the box takes the answers and creates an individual, drawn picture that creatively processes the thoughts on the piece of paper. This can either be presented visually in the form of a picture or as a question, comment or poem in text form. Each product is labeled with the date, location and abbreviation of the creative person to create a unique memento that is thought-provoking and can be taken home or presented as part of a small exhibition or reading on site.

How you implement the idea is up to you. In any case, we think the POLITICAL DRAWBOX/CREATIVE BOX is a great way to encourage people to engage with political issues in a playful and creative way. By the way, you don't have to build a Malomat yourself, you can simply request one here together with the artist Nazanin Zandi.