Jeff Waldman

Similar Projects

• Swings: San Francisco

  We spent one Saturday wandering San Francisco with a backpack of rope and wood planks, installing swings and goading passersby into trying them out. It was an immensely positive experience with tremendous feedback that has completely shaped my approach to interactive and public installations. [with Jarrett Klein and Bob Wall]  

• TEDx Brisbane

  I was asked to speak at the 2011 TEDx Brisbane on my swing project. [To learn more about TED Talks, go here] Having just returned five days prior from a month of hanging swings in Bolivia, I focused most of my seventeen minute talk on that recent adventure and then wrapped it up by showing five minutes […]

• Forever Stamp

  A pen, pre-stamped envelopes, blank Mother’s Day cards, and small, glossy pictures of flowers. That was the inventory of each kiosk that we made, which we then installed on the San Francisco streets– each one placed next to a USPS mail box. Reminders of the price (“Free!”) and to, “Wish your Mom a happy Mother’s Day,” […]

• Swings: Los Angeles

  The Los Angeles chapter of The Awesome Foundation awarded me a $1000 grant to bring my swing installation down to their city. Over one weekend we installed 50 swings across the city and filmed the process. For the foundation’s award party we assembled, on the rooftop, a swing set from beams which I’d constructed ahead of time in San Francisco. [with […]

• Doors

  Tiny doors installed into the recesses and alleys, meant to arouse a sense of wonder and mystery and to heighten the awareness of passersby, so they might examine their surroundings a little more intently. The doors were made by me, my friends, and by artists around the country, including an entire sculpture class at Yale, courtesy […]

• Swings: Latin America

  I collaborated with Coca Cola to create a one day event community throughout Latin America. Simultaneous events were hosted in cities in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Mexico. Billed as a day of bonding, food, music, swing materials and professional instruction were provided to the community so that […]

• Swings: Bolivia

  In Bolivia we hung swings at homes for families, in plazas, and most unexpectedly, in dilapidated old swing set frames– none of which had swings when we found them. The project was filmed for what will eventually be a documentary and was funded via Kickstarter. [with Drew Hartley & Stacy Keck] Here’s a 15 min trial edit of […]

• Swings: The Coca Cola Campaign

  In 2012 I collaborated with with Coca Cola for an international ad campaign. We filmed in Buenos Aires, hanging swings around the city. The aim of the campaign is to showcase real people from around the world who perform “Random Acts of Kindness.” It was directed by Henry Alex Rubin, who directed the Oscar nominated (Best Documentary) Murderball, and […]

• Neighborhood Bookshelf

  After giving a newspaper stand a makeover and some wooden shelves it was installed on a San Francisco corner in order to test the viability of a free, non-curated, book exchange. Ideally, it remains cared for and in use, and like a community garden, fosters a sense of ownership and consideration,  reminding the anonymous city dweller that […]

• Exploring Treasure Island

  (Image: a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Dennis Goedegebuure’s photostream.) We spent a day trying out the new camera (Canon 7D) on Treasure Island; a man-made island joined to Yerba Buena Island. The two bisect the Bay Bridge, situated square between Oakland and San Francisco. The island was created from dredge fill as a […]