Art & Inspiration Blog

On the weekend of April 4th Twitter members celebrated International Pillow Fight day, which began officially on Saturday but due to time zone differences and enthusiasm flowed into Sunday in EST. For almost 24 hours—and even up to a few days latter, people were Tweeting a #pillow at each other giving TwitterWhacks back and forth.

I instigated the Twitter #pillow fight. By the end of the day there were over 56 pages of Tweets that included the #pillow and were a part of the ongoing TwitterWhacking. There are 25 Tweets (messages) to a page on search. Although the Twitter Search function no longer extends far back in time, mentions of the #pillow fight are easily found via Google searches. Over 175 people participated according to my general count, which I skewered a bit low.

Below is a screen capture where you see me, @judyrey call again for a celebration on Twitter of National Pillow Fight Day. That cal is ReTweeted above me and you ca see below that other people are Tweeting now of the topic.

I had heard of this Pillow Fight holiday the night before on the news. As I sat at the PC, trying to wake up in the morning, I remembered it and thought it could be fun to see what we could do to celebrate on Twitter. My initial invitation had now social experiment or Conceptual Art plan, but that soon changes as #pillows were tossed.

It took my tossing some #pillow Tweets at Twitter friends to really get it started. My Tweets said:

judyrey : National Pillow Fight Day TwitterWacking is a way to have fun will followers. Twitter=Relationships Toss a #pillow

These were the ReTweeted (RT) and soon the fight was on.

Once it really began it dawned on me that even though it was just for fun it was also an example of social media as an impromptu Conceptual Performance Art event.

Twitter’s #pillow fight was fully conceptual. There were no pillows. No pictures of pillows, except later in the day several participants posted links to real pillow fights in NY and elsewhere. The #pillows that were being tosses were symbols – a hashtag word to represent a pillow.

Twitter is a social media site where people interact in real time. Twitter #pillows traveled at the speed of.. well, a real pillow as the fight continued. That the pillows could be volleyed and responded to in real time gave the event an immediacy and reality that it would have lacked if sent in email, posted in forums or discussions.

Here’s my basic Tweet that was always aimed at someone I knew:

“ judyrey : @workhomexpert #pilliow Gotcha! You’re TwitterWhacked! Celebrate National Pillow Fight Day on Twitter. Toss a #pillow at a follower now!” [Note: the name of the tweet's originator always is shown at the beginning of the message.]

Participants playfully and creatively added to the concept in unexpected ways. The described their #pillow, some had feathers pillows, some pillows were microfiber, some had colorful cases, some were large, others were small.

Once the fight was in full swing I backed out for periods of time, partly as life goes on, but also to see what would happen when the instigator left. The fight grew and waged on. People would come and go, but TwitterWhack new people who usually responded and tosses a #pillow at someone else.

Of course the #pillow fight Tweets all showed up in the regular Twitter stream. It was sort of like a different colored strand in a braid, while the other basic strands just flowed on and on.

At times this added humor as when a spammy Tweet from some marketer, probably sent by an automated service was surrounded by the live action fight Tweets filled with laughter, hashtags and creativity. People were enormously creative.

The conceptual Twitter pillow fight spilled into real life too, as spouses, children and others became involved though the Twitterer Here’s one example:

“ McBud : @lsbeachrph I laughed so loud Mandy came down stairs and smacked me with a #pillow”

“ lsbeachrph : @McBud Did I mention that the pillow I used was ORANGE ? #pillow “

Above all the fight was a different kind of communication than is usual on Twitter where ideas that have obvious meaning are communicated. The #pillows communicated were concepts of events (tossed pillows) that had no deep significance, offered no insights or information. Any significance was simply in the act of interacting. Everyone participating was punk’d and all were in on the joke as it occurred.

Personally, since the fight I feel closer to the members who PillowThwacked me and participated. To help you relive the fun or give a sense of it for those who missed it here are a few of the Tweets, and you ca n find many more via Google searches.

“kfjelsted : @denyseduhaime Lol now this is getting personal! wak wak #pillow with terkey feathers”

“shellykramer : @Silver_Craig Float like a butterfly, sting like a BEE .. your smacks are butterfly wings to this hard-hitting BEE … WHACK WHACK #pillow”

“Mollyinfolode : @ShellyKramer Ah, there you are. Saved the burnt coffee stained #pillow just for you THWACK”

“dreamworthy : @Mollyinfolode Ow Ow Ow Ow!! What you got in there, Molly?? Bricks? #pillow ”

“Mollyinfolode : @DreamWorthy There you are! (jumps from behind chair w/nubby #pillow ) ”

“judyrey : National Pillow Fight Day TwitterWacking is a way to have fun will followers. Twitter=Relationships Toss a #pillow ”

“blogomama : @Tekee wait for it, wait for it….COWABUNGA!!!!(running ) SMACK DADDY @Tekee #pillow Take that!”

“TinkerAndPo : @ShellyKramer BWAH HAH HAHHHHH! I have the couch cushion! WHACK! #pillow ”

“ByDezin : @johnlusher *achoo* kitties running everywhere with feathers in their fur… lol #pillow ”

“DianaRusso : @adamsconsulting #pillow hmm I wonder how the pillow wacky thing is going? like a global pyjama party!”

During the day I discovered that the celebration was actually international, making Twitter’s #pillow Fight actually an international even and art performance. It was conceptual, an excellent ongoing performance, but also fun and real in an inspiring way.

Finally, a couple of hours after the day had actually ended in my time zone, I signed off after a few more TwitterWhacks with @TregorySullivan who was keeping the party going.. I am looking forward to the #pillow fight next year! Hope that you join in then!

“judyrey : After a good day of #pillow fight, I’m heading for mine. Hope you’re happy wherever you are. “see” you in the AM EDT. G’Night.”

Note; If you have comments or memories of the event to share please remember to include your Twitter ID.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 3:09 am and is filed under Art Theory and Show Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.