Tangible, Public, and Miniature Creative Exchanges: What HCI and Design Researchers Can Learn From the Free Little Art Gallery Movement

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HCI researchers are continually exploring new ways of engaging the public in participatory design and bringing creative making research activities to new audiences. In this paper, we interviewed individuals who independently began public and DIY installations for sharing miniature art among their neighbours. During the COVID-19 pandemic, participatory miniature art exchanges, commonly known as Free Little Art Galleries (FLAGs), organically spread in response to lockdowns and institutional constraints. These art exchanges were boxes, often posted at the edge of an individual's lawn, where communities could drop off and take miniature art pieces. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 20 FLAG `curators' to understand the implications involved in setting up and maintaining these long-term deployments. From the analysis of these interviews, we provide 6 practical recommendations on supporting these types of deployments, and discuss how HCI researchers can expand upon these DIY participatory practices to bring creative ideation activities on the future of technology to broader audiences.