The artist’s collective Improv Everywhere is dedicated to "Making Scenes". No Pants 2k9 is their first mission for 2009.
An "agent" wearing no pants
Something interesting happened at NY’s Grand Central Station on February 24, 2008, a phenomenon that managed to capture the attention of newspapers around the world. Two hundred people froze like statues for 5 minutes. Can you imagine having everything suddenly freeze around you? How would you react? Those who were present experienced all sorts of sensations: laughter, confusion, fear, impotence, lack of understanding... Some people even called Security. What’s going on? When the 5 minutes were over, the “frozen ones” went on their way, while the stunned spectators stared after them.
This was "Frozen Grand Central" one of the best-known performances by Improv Everywhere, a group of artists dedicated to "Making Scenes”. They organize actions in which a huge group of people decide to meet at a certain place to do something unusual.
The aim is to have fun, but there’s also a sociological reading since the performances are carried out in order to observe people’s behavior. They refer to their performances as "Missions", and their participants are "Agents".
One of their most amazing missions was Food Court Musical, which they staged in March 2008 at a fast food restaurant in Los Angeles. The performance begins when one of the restaurant’s workers suddenly gets up on the counter and starts singing, complaining about her job. Everyone looks at her in bewilderment, thinking she’s gone mad, but, suddenly, one of the customers decides to sing and dance with her. And then another, and another... and so on, until a total of 16 people manage to perform a well-rehearsed musical number (dance included) that the spectator perceives as spontaneous. You can see it in this video:
Human Mirror was another of their incredible missions. They manage to fill several cars on the NY subway with identical twins. Each pair sat one in front of the other and dressed in the same clothes, making the same movements. How do you think people on the subway reacted?
The first mission for 2009 was No Pants 2k9. 2,500 people in 22 cities around the world participated simultaneously by walking around the subway with no pants on. No Pants! This is an already classic scene that is celebrating its eighth anniversary this year. To see people wearing no pants, press Play:
If you run into half-naked people, sit next to identical twins on the subway, time suddenly stops, or you witness an unusual scene, you’re not crazy. You’re probably a spectator in an Improv Everywhere Mission.
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An "agent" wearing no pants
