Past Projects – RECIPROCATE MY SMILE

Commissioned by Quad in Derby, RECIPROCATE MY SMILE was conceived to make Derby a happier city. A postcard was produced and distributed around Derby that encouraged people to smile at ten random strangers. If the stranger smiled back they got a tick, if they didn’t they got a cross. When all ten smiles were performed they took or posted the card back to the gallery. The successful smiles were added to a running total in the tradition of Blue Peter appeals and Television charity nights.

Over the period of the six week exhibition over 1000 smiles were successfully performed and the wall grew with a variety of successful and unsuccessful postcards. The project also spread around the world. Completed postcards were sent from places such as Cardiff, London, Paris and New York.

The visitors to the exhibition saw the postcards and running total and this acted as documentation of art that was being performed on the streets face to face by the citizens of Derby.