Submissions from the GISH 1-Day Play-at-Home Scavenger Hunt, held during the COVID-19 Pandemic in May 2020.
So many people are out of work right now, and it’s time to explore some new career options. Create a poster or advertisement for a ‘job’ that is traditionally held by an animal and has been under-promoted to human applicants (e.g., ‘Housecat’, ‘Good Dog’, ‘Lake Swan’, ‘Feral Possum’… you get the idea.) Post it on a job posting site like monster.com or LinkedIn. Submit a screenshot of the posting.
There’s an overwhelming wealth of how-to videos on youtube. How to repair a Whirlpool Dishwasher, for instance (I had to watch that one recently) or how to groom your golden retriever (had to watch that one too), but it’s hard to find tutorials on some of the more basic life skills. Create a tutorial for something we don’t normally get instructional programming for, but that is a necessary skill. For example, you could make a youtube tutorial on how to brush your teeth (but now you can’t do that). Post tagged #BasicSkills and #GISH.
Your recycling is destined for the bin, then a truck, then a processing facility where it will be shredded, dissolved, and or melted down. It’s a pretty bleak future. Why don’t we give it one moment of beauty before it goes? Turn your recycling into a majestic phoenix.
Just because we’re ‘socially distant’ doesn’t mean we can’t all get together! Hold a long-distance concert performance with your neighbors on your porches or balconies. The song should be ‘All By Myself’, ‘Close To You’, or another song that references distance in some way. Post it to social media tagged #GISH and #LongDistantConcerts
STOP MOTION. These dishes aren’t going to wash themselves… No, actually, they are. Show us the latest GISH innovation: self-washing dishes.
Some people say that clutter is ugly. Those people just lack vision. Show us a beautiful accessory (a hat, necklace, broach, or corsage), created entirely out of objects from your junk drawer. (You may not use rubber bands or paperclips.)
Using distance to create perspective, let’s see your loved one or quarantine mate, miniaturized, being pursued or eaten by an inanimate object or creature in your house. For example, a stapler could be biting your husband’s head off, if you get the perspective right. But we need to see the fear in his eyes to sell this.
Watch Ava Duvernay’s 13th. Take a photo of yourself watching it and holding up a note with a word that encapsulates how you feel about what you viewed.
Write a haiku illustrating some silver lining of pandemic life that you have discovered.
Grown-up cereal is so boring. Create a re-imagined box of Boring Bran Flakes with a snazzy character in a suit, marshmallows shaped like household bills, etc. and puzzles and games all on the back. This can be a painting/drawing or digital recreation.