webolog's posterous

webolog's posterous

Ian Ballinger  //  Hi there, and thank you for visiting Ebo's blog.
This blog is for sporadic, general musings I would like share with the world.
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Dec 22 / 6:45am

Flash mobs - Still going strong

W'ebo'log #2 - 21/12/10

 

Do you remember flash mobs?

I thought they were a fad of yester year that had their '15 minutes' and disappeared.... I was completely wrong.

This week I have witnessed via a YouTube link, one of the latest triumphs of a flash mob. I haven't heard the term in a while, but they are apparently still going strong on a global scale, with different goals, using a varying demographic of participants, huge differences in size and inevitably, success. 

For those not in the know, a flash mob is a group of people that come together for a pre arranged event, usually using social media, in order to perform a random act, at specific time. 

When it's read like that, it can't help but sound pointless... I even imagine the kind of people that would be taking part, people with nothing to do with their days!! That however is ridiculous and judgmental. Shame on me.

This global trend has now been going - known as a flash mob - for over 7 years. What started out as a simple email, sent in order to mock the New York scene chasers, has turned in to an arts movement, accessible to everyone all over the world, either as a creator or a participant. 

There are websites dedicated to flash mob activity - http://ow.ly/1rYluS... dates, times and locations of forthcoming mobs and reports on mobs gone by. This truly is social media in action, coming together with artistic direction, with the hope of achieving an event so spontaneous and well organised, it leaves the surprised on lookers with a memory that lasts a lifetime.

It doesn't always work like that, in fact, it's probably fair to say it seldom does, but there are plenty of examples of mobs that have earned their place in the artistic social media history books (and if they don't exist someone should start writing them), for their inspired way of making people stop, look, listen and then ponder what just went on. Because of these infamous mobs, the trend grows, more people become inspired and new ideas get tried.

 

  

Flash_mob

 

 

Is it art?

Well that is a subjective thing. If you're of a certain mindset, then you will have a natural way of appreciating how someone has gone out of their way to organise a mass meeting of people and given them instructions to carry out, in order to brighten the day of others, or make people smile, or bemuse people. If you're not, then the same event would be a nuisance, a waste of time and effort, even offensive.

Even this wonderful example that touched my heart this week - the coming together of two choirs at a food court, with the sole intention of brightening everyone else’s' day - may have been found intrusive by someone who was there. I imagine that most however were amazed and enthralled.  

I hope you enjoy this short clip http://ow.ly/1rGrmF - Food court flash mob 13/11/10.

Please feel free to add any thoughts.

Until next time, I bid you adieu  :)

Filed under  //  Flash mob   art   artistic social media   social media   trend