Central city  |  7 May 2019

People are being invited to get in the mood for some pop-up fun with Gap Filler’s latest initiative in the central city.

The 'Moodshift' initiative aims to help people over the mid-week “hump” every Wednesday this month.

Gap Filler Project Developer Rhiannon Josland says the goal is to provide a fun "micro-pause" for city workers to help support well-being.

A sunflower gift brightens up the central city.

A sunflower gift brightens up the central city.

The five-event series – supported by the Christchurch City Council – first popped up last week with the opportunity to present a flower to a stranger at a busy central city intersection.

“We wanted to create an experience that was out of the ordinary, leveraging off the temporary nature of a pop-up event to bring surprise and delight to inner-city workers during an otherwise routine day,” she says.

Ms Josland says the pop-ups – operating between 12.30pm and 2pm – aim to be “unexpected, unpredictable, contagious and fun”.

All five different pop-ups encourage curiosity and a range of interaction with the event.

Some people may like to just watch, while others want to be part of the fun. The first event was based on the theme of “giving”. Pedestrians crossing an intersection were instructed – via signage – to take a sunflower from a bucket and give the bloom to a stranger.

Ms Josland says it “was a way to encourage social interaction between people we often pass by, but often don’t acknowledge on the street”.

People can follow Gap Filler on Facebook or Instagram for clues about the next event.

While the time and general area will be made public, people will have to come along to discover the day’s surprise “pop-up”.