Remember flashmobs? This is sort of in the same vein. Bruce Sterling’s blog on Wired tells of a group of agitators calling themselves the “Passenger Liberation front” (snerk). The PLF spice up San Francisco’s BART train system by running random bits of performance art — in this case a mock wedding. This sounds eminently wacky and lots of fun.
The idea is a good one. “BART is a public space, but people don’t really interact with each other,” says one participant, and this is probably true of any subway system, anywhere. You sit, you scrutinize the dull advertisements, you stare at the subway map and count the stops until you get off even though the entire thing is burned into your memory already. If you’re really lucky you have a walkman or a book. I used to nap when I took the subway. So the PLF decides to shake things up and make people laugh, make them smile. And if this article is any indication, it’s working.
But of course, predictably, the cops get involved. They haven’t busted up the wedding party yet, but a BART party on St Paddy’s ended in arrests and unpleasantness. Bah.
