The creative intervention aimed to target specific points within Dewsbury Town Centre and its periphery to gain information from the public about their thoughts, hopes and aspirations for Dewsbury as part of the regeneration project
Stage one was a guerrilla-style intervention named Invisible action. I kept a distance from the chairs, observing and taking photographic evidence of the public interactions with the chairs and the pre-set questions. The interventions ran over several morning and afternoon sessions in multiple places, Crow’s Nest Park, Dewsbury Train Station entrance and platform, Foundry Street, Northgate and Longcauseway.
I selected five assorted styles of chairs and made bespoke cushions with text information inviting the viewer to take a seat and a moment to respond to the luggage labels questions hanging from its backrest. I estimated that 200 people engaged in the intervention in one way or another, and out of the 100 labels I prepared, 52 completed by the public.
In stage two, the chairs were pre-set near the D shop. I frequently introduced myself to the participant and engaged in conversations about the questions I had devised, their reasons for coming to Dewsbury, and their memories and hopes for its regeneration.
Questions and answers included:
Q: Where did you find the chair? A: “Outside the Reform Church”
Q: Describe what you see in front of you. A: “Dewsbury Sports centre, job centre.”
Q: What do you imagine you see there in the future? A: “Lovely trees.”
Q: If this chair could take you anywhere, where would you go? Whom would you meet? A: “HRH Queen Elizabeth, London.”
Q: Why? A: “I was a child when she came to Dewsbury.”
Foundry Street 
Dewsbury Train Station 
Crows Nest Park 
Crows Nest park 
Northgate 
Longcauseway 
Longcauseway 
an Invitation to take a seat
