Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia
39.9495° N, 75.1497° W
The United States is one of history's most remarkable works in progress, built on an amendable constitution evolving through new ideas. The Internet was meant to accelerate debate about progress, yet it polarised the country. Unfinished Thought uses the symbolic ellipsis to turn the birthplace of American democracy, the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, into an open, vibrant and safe forum for debate again. With tables and stools for strangers to meet, with conversation topics on the table surfaces, people can reconcile, through the force of ideas and empathy, safely six feet apart. A monument to the pandemic bringing us together.
About
NONYMOUS is a marketing and advertising agency that gives clients exclusive access to a diverse network of world-class creatives and strategists. All work is remote and anonymous, lowering the cost of hiring top talent and tackling biases concerning gender, race, and age.
Interview
Why did you select the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia? What does it represent, and why is it that you’re keen to see it reoccupied?
It connects several locations associated with the American Revolution and the nation’s founding history – it’s where the founding fathers wrote and signed the Constitution and so marks the birth of US democracy. A short walk away you can find Benjamin Franklin’s grave, and where Betsy Ross designed the first American flag. In a polarised and painfully partisan time, it’s the perfect place to once again come together and explore ideas on how to unite the country and build a new future.
How did you approach the space? What was the broad vision?
The park is only utilised as walking paths between different historical sites, facilitating no meetings or serendipitous encounters between people like it used to. We wanted to bring people together in pairs through thorny but fundamental conversations and create encounters that are no longer possible in America.
What tactics did you use to help encourage social distancing?
To help people keep a safe distance, all the stools are six feet apart, so you can discuss and debate safely. The distance also becomes a monument to a crisis that in some ways brought the best out of people in the US: a collective effort that transcended political partisanship to keep each other safe, with the huge sacrifice of self-isolation. With the tables and stools being unmovable, it’s inherently safe by design.
How might this approach, or space, evolve over time or be adaptable to different levels of needed distancing?
The design uses white marble, which is synonymous with famous American monuments, giving it a feeling of permanence. But just like The Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, the table topics can be replaced to reflect contemporary issues over time, making it relevant to new moments or generations. The topics were chosen carefully, reflecting fundamental issues America has always debated like “Race,” “Guns” and “Government,” as well as more recent topics like “Climate” and “Healthcare.”
Were there any particular inspirations?
The park being the cradle of America, we wanted to show reverence to the location and space, and design something that could’ve been there from that time. We looked at other monuments in the US, like the Lincoln Memorial, to make sure it was aesthetically timeless, but used a ubiquitous sans serif font to give it a contemporary touch.
Similarly, did you aim for your work to be site-specific, or to offer a widely replicable solution?
Being inspired by monuments we, of course, hope that the concept can be replicated all over the US in public spaces where people gather, for example outside state capitols. Fundamentally, we want to enable more conversations over the political divide across the country, and we hope that political leaders all over the world can be inspired and create similar installations that can adapt to their local environments.
How do you imagine people using the space, in your version of it? What does this space allow for?
We want people to sit down by a topic they’re particularly interested in, to discuss it with strangers, to learn from each other, or even become friends. An amazing outcome would be for Pennsylvania constituents to go to the park to meet and interact with political representatives and enable a new way for politicians and policymakers to interact with people. As it’s the main tourist attraction of Philadelphia, we also hope that visitors from other countries will share ideas, creating an international forum.
How do you think the value of public space has changed because of the pandemic?
Isolation means we connect public space with freedom, and we’ve realised that it’s a crucial part of our life and an extension of our home. The park is our garden, the public square has become our living room. We’ll re-enter the world with a new sense of ownership of the common, we will cherish it more, and our need to connect with other people has never been greater.
How did you validate the idea and apply your learnings?
By talking to Philadelphians on both sides of the political divide, we learned that there is a genuine openness to having difficult conversations on larger topics. People want to discuss “the role of government,” not “Trump.” The most pressing of these conversations is of course “race,” and it’s long overdue.
How do you think your approach might be applied to other spaces?
As a concept, it’s infinitely scalable, and can be executed anywhere in minutes: just put up two chairs around a table and place a poignant conversation topic on its surface, and off you go. We hope that this can help spark thousands of conversations around the world and become a new medium for democracy.
Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia
39.9495° N, 75.1497° W
The United States is one of history's most remarkable works in progress, built on an amendable constitution evolving through new ideas. The Internet was meant to accelerate debate about progress, yet it polarised the country. Unfinished Thought uses the symbolic ellipsis to turn the birthplace of American democracy, the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, into an open, vibrant and safe forum for debate again. With tables and stools for strangers to meet, with conversation topics on the table surfaces, people can reconcile, through the force of ideas and empathy, safely six feet apart. A monument to the pandemic bringing us together.
About
NONYMOUS is a marketing and advertising agency that gives clients exclusive access to a diverse network of world-class creatives and strategists. All work is remote and anonymous, lowering the cost of hiring top talent and tackling biases concerning gender, race, and age.
Interview
Why did you select the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia? What does it represent, and why is it that you’re keen to see it reoccupied?
It connects several locations associated with the American Revolution and the nation’s founding history – it’s where the founding fathers wrote and signed the Constitution and so marks the birth of US democracy. A short walk away you can find Benjamin Franklin’s grave, and where Betsy Ross designed the first American flag. In a polarised and painfully partisan time, it’s the perfect place to once again come together and explore ideas on how to unite the country and build a new future.
How did you approach the space? What was the broad vision?
The park is only utilised as walking paths between different historical sites, facilitating no meetings or serendipitous encounters between people like it used to. We wanted to bring people together in pairs through thorny but fundamental conversations and create encounters that are no longer possible in America.
What tactics did you use to help encourage social distancing?
To help people keep a safe distance, all the stools are six feet apart, so you can discuss and debate safely. The distance also becomes a monument to a crisis that in some ways brought the best out of people in the US: a collective effort that transcended political partisanship to keep each other safe, with the huge sacrifice of self-isolation. With the tables and stools being unmovable, it’s inherently safe by design.
How might this approach, or space, evolve over time or be adaptable to different levels of needed distancing?
The design uses white marble, which is synonymous with famous American monuments, giving it a feeling of permanence. But just like The Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, the table topics can be replaced to reflect contemporary issues over time, making it relevant to new moments or generations. The topics were chosen carefully, reflecting fundamental issues America has always debated like “Race,” “Guns” and “Government,” as well as more recent topics like “Climate” and “Healthcare.”
Were there any particular inspirations?
The park being the cradle of America, we wanted to show reverence to the location and space, and design something that could’ve been there from that time. We looked at other monuments in the US, like the Lincoln Memorial, to make sure it was aesthetically timeless, but used a ubiquitous sans serif font to give it a contemporary touch.
Similarly, did you aim for your work to be site-specific, or to offer a widely replicable solution?
Being inspired by monuments we, of course, hope that the concept can be replicated all over the US in public spaces where people gather, for example outside state capitols. Fundamentally, we want to enable more conversations over the political divide across the country, and we hope that political leaders all over the world can be inspired and create similar installations that can adapt to their local environments.
How do you imagine people using the space, in your version of it? What does this space allow for?
We want people to sit down by a topic they’re particularly interested in, to discuss it with strangers, to learn from each other, or even become friends. An amazing outcome would be for Pennsylvania constituents to go to the park to meet and interact with political representatives and enable a new way for politicians and policymakers to interact with people. As it’s the main tourist attraction of Philadelphia, we also hope that visitors from other countries will share ideas, creating an international forum.
How do you think the value of public space has changed because of the pandemic?
Isolation means we connect public space with freedom, and we’ve realised that it’s a crucial part of our life and an extension of our home. The park is our garden, the public square has become our living room. We’ll re-enter the world with a new sense of ownership of the common, we will cherish it more, and our need to connect with other people has never been greater.
How did you validate the idea and apply your learnings?
By talking to Philadelphians on both sides of the political divide, we learned that there is a genuine openness to having difficult conversations on larger topics. People want to discuss “the role of government,” not “Trump.” The most pressing of these conversations is of course “race,” and it’s long overdue.
How do you think your approach might be applied to other spaces?
As a concept, it’s infinitely scalable, and can be executed anywhere in minutes: just put up two chairs around a table and place a poignant conversation topic on its surface, and off you go. We hope that this can help spark thousands of conversations around the world and become a new medium for democracy.