[Oliver Herring: "TASK"]
[WOMAN, OFF CAMERA] Can you tell us what your task is?
[MAN] Yeah,
I have to play my favorite childhood game.
I need some people! [LAUGHS]
[WOMAN] "Write the lyrics of your favorite song, but in texture."
[OLIVER HERRING] I have to do this to thirty people.
You put up the signs earlier, right?
You're a volunteer?
[MAN] Play "Duck Duck Goose."
[MAN] Thank you!
[HERRING] Sure.
[HERRING LAUGHS]
[HERRING] The way people interact with each other socially
tends to be very prescribed.
And, with TASK, you use this little directive
and you go over to that person
and you engage that person.
And, he or she is not going to question that
because that's very much part of the structure.
So, suddenly, you engage with
a whole lot of people that you wouldn't ordinarily.
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
[MAN] Oh, you got us!
[BOY] My task was to pop up out of a box
and scare people.
[WOMAN] That was awesome! [LAUGHS]
[TWO HOURS EARLIER]
[HERRING] We were thrown a serious curveball...
[MAN] Yeah.
[HERRING] ...with the weather,
so they're running way behind.
[HERRING] I came up with TASK in 2002.
I think the first TASK was only ten people.
And then the structures shifted slightly
to an entirely open structure,
where anyone could participate.
The most important thing that I got from that first iteration
was that those people really invested themselves
so much into the structure
that it became a cathartic experience.
Everyone is a creative agent.
So, independent of what your interests are,
you can bring that to the table.
[HERRING] Just trying to figure out
where everything is supposed to go.
If you want to bring tape back in here, great.
But, I think we need to have piles that draw people out.
[HERRING] You want materials there
to present an environment that seems generous.
Where, at first, you don't feel so intimidated
to immediately have to break social barriers.
This is going to be the first public TASK Party--
in an iconic, centrally-located public park.
So, it's open to anybody.
[HERRING] Do me a favor: have fun.
Throw yourself into the mix.
Write tasks.
Because you guys know better than
the general public who comes in here--
how to do this.
And we're going to have fun.
It's going to be the best TASK Party yet.
[HERRING] Okay guys!
[WOMAN] So you're going to write down a task for someone.
And then you put it in the box
and then you draw one out
and you do the task.
[HERRING] When you're done, you write a new task.
You put back it back in the pool,
pull a new task.
So it's an entirely self-perpetuating thing.
[MAN] We've been recruited to be tied together to twenty people.
It's for five minutes, apparently.
I think it's been about two.
[BOY] My task was to do a pinball machine,
and my mom helped me with it a little bit.
[GIRL] I met a guy named Daniel,
and we talked about "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"
and "Sweeny Todd"
and the book my dads wrote.
Is that a zebra?
[MAN] I was actually on my way to a restaurant
and I saw lots of people enjoying themselves
so I stopped by,
and now it's been one hour already!
And I'm late for dinner. [LAUGHS]
I've participated in some other people's tasks already,
which was fun.
[MAN, OFF SCREEN] Go!
[SCREAMING]
[HERRING] These tasks,
they can be interpreted however you want.
[WOMAN, SINGING]
[HERRING, VOICE OVER] The tools are your imagination,
and your imagination is limitless.
[WOMAN] I had to run up to people and ask them to play with me.
I played Red Rover--
I haven't played that in over a decade.
[MAN] My task is to find other people
to attach tasks to me.
[HERRING] So much art is metaphor and simulation--
or aesthetics.
Part of the value of TASK is not to invest into anything permanent;
to really celebrate the moment--
the fluidity of creative action.
[GIRL] My task was to turn invisible.
[HERRING] I'm completely wiped out,
but actually really happy.
I just got a garden--
a beautiful garden that somebody made.
[HERRING] You really did everything.
[MAN] Yeah, I've just been taking the tour right now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's some kids that are invisible.
[HERRING] I've been to a lot of TASK Parties,
but I think this was probably
one of the most positive ones I've been to.
[MAN] Oh yeah...
[HERRING] Show me, I haven't seen anything...
[MAN] They're invisible...
[HERRING] You know, it's just always great to see
little kids interact with older people.
Artists interact with complete non-artists.
A lot of people, they like art--
they like the idea of art.
They want to be connected to it,
but they don't really have access points.
So, TASK can be that, I think.
It's important to a lot of people
that this is art
and not just a party.
This kid who came up to me--
I think he had to turn himself into a Pollock
and then hug a guy in a white shirt,
and I was the lucky beneficiary of that.
I really enjoyed that,
because it broke a wall.
To actually overlap like that with strangers
is rare, I think.
And that's why...
I think that's part why people
sort of exploded into this so nicely.