“Creative Rituals - Breaking Patterns. Moving Minds.” — Interview Meike Ziegler
@Interactive Storytelling Meetup #1 –14 January 2016
Interview by Femke Deckers and Klasien van de Zandschulp
Meike Ziegler is a ‘creative alchemist’. She creates concepts called Creatuals (creative rituals) for special occasions around a particular theme or transition. Meike invites people to participate by contributing their stories, intentions or expressions to load a moment or object with personal input.
“You can actually celebrate something that is painful in a beautiful way.”
At Interactive Storytelling Meetup #1 Ziegler shared the project Table of Hope, a moving table that is a co-created art piece for dialogue of good hope. The first table was created in Cape Town, South Africa. Here she collected local and handwritten stories that form the base of the Table of Hope. The table is made up of handwritten hopes, dreams and thoughts of everyday people of Cape Town, notched on each of the strips of wood that form the table.
After the Meetup we met in the Creatuals Lab for an interview.
What was the thought process behind the Table of Hope? And… why a table?
“I was invited to do a Creatual for Cape Town, in South Africa, The city of Table Mountain where we Dutch people sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to our Colonies. Somehow all ingredients came together in this creative ritual project and I figured this was only the beginning’. I want to go back in history, via Ghana, to Amsterdam and build more tables all around the. I decided to bring a piece of the table to clone it elswere and move on.”
“I often work with every day objects. Objects people understand, and that are tangible. For example, milk, lamp shades, tea pots, but mostly tables. A table is the most universal thing we have. Everyone on this earth knows what a table is. You can eat at it, play at it, have discussions, hide under to avoid the sun or even sleep on it, etc.”
Why did you choose to use handwritten notes?
“Handwriting has a personal voice. The first idea was to burn the words inside the wood, with hot pins. But I reckoned it was too dangerous, you never know who you meet and you need electricity, we worked on the street so this was not very practical.”
“We decided to use markers. The whole idea is that people write their hopes and statements on the wood. The planks of wood are glued together, so you would never be able to read the words again. But the words and the intention is there. The table is filled with meaning.”
“We are now thinking of adding sound to the table. To have people speak out loud what they wrote down on the wood, and maybe work with sound systems. So hopefully in the future the table will also talk.”
Did you look for a specific kind of person when you were looking for people on the streets, or did you just approach anyone?
“No, we approached anyone we met. We went with a group of 35 students divided in 4 parts of the city. We just walked in the streets, saying hello. In Africa if you greet somebody you say ‘Hello, how are you’ and they always answere ‘I am fine, and how are you?’. You make contact very easily.”
“We went to townships, parks, the central station, and to the market. We met people white, black, rich, poor, old, young, anyone.”
What story stood out the most for you?
“I have many favorites. There was one man who didn’t have much time, and he just came to me, took the pen, and wrote: ‘Only the birds are free’. He walked of, and waved. Someone else had a long conversation with a woman. She wrote ‘heal you head, heal the hoods!’”
What is your biggest hope?
“I hope the Table of Hope will become a movement. I hope one day tables will be build on the outer ends of this world. The North Pole maybe? I really would like this project to become successful. Not for me, but for the people from many different cultures.”
“It’s not just about building a table or gathering people to do it. It’s also giving people ownership and responsability to connect and gather at the table to create dialogue and new rituals — the rituals we don’t have anymore today. That’s my hope.”
