When I was younger (and even now, if he thinks he can get away with it) when I would start a sentence with “I wish…” my father would reply, “If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.” It took me a few years to figure that one out, but it always shut me up. The origin of the phrase seems to be 16th century England, or possibly Scotland, and there are often other parts to the phrase about turnips and tinkers, but the core of the phrase was to push people into action: stop wishing, start doing.
Candy Chang did that in New Orleans with “I Wish This Was…” –one part interactive art project, one part urban planning. She printed hundreds of vinyl stickers that look like the “HELLO… MY NAME IS” stickers that instead said “I Wish This Was” in the red portion and she stuck them on empty storefronts and abandoned spaces. The responses were surprising. Some earnest, some smart-assed, and some whimsical.
Like the chalkboard “Before I Die” bucket list interactive art installation (also by Candy Chang) I could see “I Wish This Was” working in Victoria, too. While we are by no means in as dire straits as New Orleans, there are growing pockets of the city that are hurting, that need some attention, and need some relief from “planning fatigue.”
Here’s more about the project, excerpted from the full length documentary, Urbanized:
Candy Chang in Urbanized from Dan Parham on Vimeo.