Event Recap
One-Meter Chain Reaction:
First Public Trial at Granary Square
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16 Apr 2025, Dongdong, London
One-Meter Chain Reaction:
First Public Trial at Granary Square
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16 Apr 2025, Dongdong, London
On March 22, we held the very first public session of our urban performance project, One-Meter Chain Reaction, at Granary Square
A huge thank you to everyone who joined, participated, and reflected with us.
Setting the Scene: Granary Square
Before the walk began, we invited participants to take a moment and learn about the site’s history—once a hub of industrial trade and canal transportation, now transformed into a vibrant public space of leisure and flux. This framing became a subtle layer in the walk: a historical weight beneath the surface of playful and improvised action.
Two Styles, Two Energies
The event was led by Scrapheap Collective members Fāyfāy and DongDong, who offered two distinct modes of moving through the square:
Fāyfāy’s Group: Meditative and Healing
A gentle procession. Fāyfāy guided the group in slow, mindful movement. Together, they stretched, paused, and drifted through the square in a soft dialogue with architecture and passersby. The experience felt like a walking meditation—quiet, observational, deeply attuned.
DongDong’s team embraced spontaneity. One moment they were walking in sync, the next they were running, mimicking strangers, or sparking interaction with curious onlookers. It felt like play, like performance, like momentary rebellion against the ordinary.
During our reflection circle, participants shared something unexpected:
Where you are in the chain changes how you feel
In the middle, people described a calming sense of focus. Their only job was to follow the person ahead, letting go of distraction and sinking into observation. “Why did they move that way? What are they reacting to?”
At the front, the feeling was one of risk and authorship. The leader had to observe the environment—details, obstacles, oddities—and respond with bodily gestures that others would echo. It felt like adventure, responsibility, and translation.
At the back, participants could see the whole line move—a choreography of bodies reacting in chain. It offered a sense of perspective, detachment, and at times even intimacy with the group as a collective organism.
These role-based shifts reminded us: this project is more than a walk. It’s a responsive structure, a fragile system of attention and reaction. We’re excited to keep experimenting—with new sites, new moods, and new choreographic logics. Whether playful or poetic, every One-Meter Chain Reaction
builds a different relationship between bodies and public space.
Thank you again for walking with us. More sessions coming soon.
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