Stars - Elevator Love Letter - Kimberly Richards

As a teenager I was awkward, as teenagers often are. Very little in my life had been defined. I had no sense of style, no particular tastes in music and what stands out to me now is that I wasn't passionate about anything. I was very passive aggressive about my own existence. At that point, around fourteen and fifteen, I didn't have any favourites. A favourite movie, a favourite band, a favourite book. These things might seem trivial, but passion is vital. At 22, I'm passionate about music, writing, literature, travelling, big cities, friends, family, food. I have favourites and they sometimes change, but I strive for these things and to keep them in my life. At 15, I first started developing passions because I remember listening to a song and never wanting to stop. I get these moments all the time now, where you just put a song/album on repeat for days on end, but at 15 that had never happened to me before. At 15, I first heard Stars, through the earbuds of my best friend's iPod, and that's when I had passion. It was my first favourite and although that has changed over the span of seven years, it was a starting point and I still hold the band near and dear to my heart.

Consequently, I hold this project tight under my rib cage. Kimberly speaks about her project as "a small act of intimacy with the hope of affecting people." Yesterday afternoon, I got into an elevator at the university and found a love letter and it made me smile. Fifteen minutes later, I got into a second elevator and was sandwiched at the very back wall. Taped just beside the buttons was another love letter and I watched as all ten people started reading its words. Some people looked confused and curious but mostly people smiled and I wanted to scream out "MY FRIEND DID THIS FOR ART 4 ART. EVERYONE LISTEN TO STARS." But, I didn't. I just let them continue with their day. One thing's for sure, having that love letter posted to the elevator wall made for a pleasant elevator ride, not any of that awkward shifting and staring stuff.

Here's Kim:

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Unlike many of the contributors to this blog, I wouldn't say that the song which inspired my project profoundly moves me. My interest in Stars' "Elevator Love Letter" is literal. (This critical reaction is probably the result of too many years of close reading.) I am delighted by Stars' quirky poetics and bizarre imagery. So for my first contribution to Art 4 Art I chose to literalize Stars' song and post love letters in elevators. Elevators have always fascinated me. For a few minutes a day we are suspended in space with complete strangers. Our interaction with those strangers is telling about who we are as individuals and as communities. For some people. those rides are Sartrean hell. So why not change the dynamic of the ride. 

I heard about Diane Borsato's feminist performance piece "Touching 1000 people" about a year ago and I've been fascinated with the idea since. Borsato went out of her way to touch 1000 people in Montreal after she read a study that suggested that when people are subtly touched, it can affect their behaviour and well being. You can read about Borsato here or in Peggy Phelan and Helena Reckitt's book Art and Feminism. Borsato makes me wonder about the little things we can do for each other. 

My project is also a small act of intimacy with the hope of affecting people. I posted love letters in twelve elevators in Calgary. I found excerpts from famous love letters that I liked (including letters by Kafka and Napoleon) and I found love letters written by ordinary people. One was written by a child, another by a soldier, a third was handwritten in French. Some of the letters were romantic while others were ironic: "Why haven't I heard from you? I'll stop loving you if you don't write back!" one writer kids. So I copied these letters, put them in unsealed envelops and taped them above the elevator buttons. I posted in high-traffic elevators on campus: in the Social Science building, the libraries, MacHall, Craigie Hall, as well as downtown in Banker's Hall, TD Square, and in some random apartment buildings. On the outside of the envelope I wrote the lyric "Elevator, Elevator [Love Letter], Take Me Home" so that people knew they could take one as a keepsake. The letters disappeared quickly so I also taped one more permanently to the wall. Was anyone inspired? Who knows. The magic of this art project is that we'll never really know if or what effect is had on its audience. (Although I included some "handouts" on "how to write a love letter" - just in case.)

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Stars' "Elevator Love Letter": 

Kimberly's Elevator Love Letters:

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Kimberly Richards is a MA student at the University of Calgary where she studies performance in places of war and trauma theory. In her spare time she laughs. She also marvels at karma and worries that she worries too much. Kimberly loves colour, taxidermy, and bumping into friends in big cities. She thinks that out of service elevators are lost opportunities. She's never been locked in an elevator, but she wants to be. Sometimes she jumps. 

Stars is an indie pop band from Montreal, fronted by singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. Visit their website, to hear more of their work.