Carlsbad Art and Culture

The Calendar Experiment, a public installation experiment by Bryan Snyder, was implemented in the local streets as a way to analyze the relationship between the public and their surroundings when altered by free product. The experiment was located at the park at Highway 101 and Pine Avenue the first week in January of 2010.

Aim:
To investigate the interest in free merchandise offered in a public space with the variable of a donation jar at varying locations.

Hypothesis:
I think the public’s interest in the free merchandise will be high and a large amount of calendars will be taken while a percent lower than half will leave a donation.

Method:
A box of calendars will be set on top of a stool and placed in a location frequented by the public. Information about the project will be available on the box. 100 passers will be analyzed. A donation jar will be:
a.) attached to the side of the box
b.) placed in the box on top of the stack of calendars

Results:
a.) Donation Jar outside box:
• 45 calendars taken/$30.74 in donations
• 55 interested in stopping and looking, but not taking

b.) Donation Jar inside box:
• 17 calendars taken/$6.45 in donations
• 83 interested in stopping and looking, but not taking

Conclusion:
There was a high interest in the calendars, but less than 50% of those who showed interest actually took a calender home. The location of the donation jar drastically effected the amount of calendars taken, as well as the amount of donations left. A very high percent of those who took calendars were of the age of 55+. Most of those who left donations were also 55+. Those who did take a calendar showed high amounts of interest in the pages of the calendar and many were seen browsing and showing the pages to others.

Evaluation:
The experiment had some obvious variables which may have effected the results. Results were accumulated over 2 days. The first day (jar outside) was very cold and threatened by an approaching thunderstorm. The second day (jar inside) was warmer and the concurrent NFL playoff game may have effected results. A third day without a tip jar should have been included in the experiment.

Click HERE to purchase a 2011 Carlsbad Local Wall Calendar!