Photo: Tristan Williams
Annie Temmink and David Hadwin wanted to meet people. They decided to offer strangers bad advice.
“We thought, ‘What would be the easiest way to talk to new people?’” Temmink says.
She’d seen a “bad advice booth” photo from Burning Man and put her passion for sculpture and stage design to work on a cardboard structure of her own. Under a large “Bad Advice” banner and various disclaimers—“advice not to replace common sense”—Temmink and Hadwin set up shop on the Downtown Mall to take all comers. They had conversations on topics ranging from Hitler to “Paw Patrol.” They met people from 8 years old to nearly 80.
Hadwin, a software engineer with “a passion for people and helping them reframe their perspective,” came to the project from his professional coaching background. Temmink, a lecturer in the UVA drama department and associate technical director at Live Arts, simply relished “the opportunity for people to engage.”
The four to five hours Hadwin and Temmink spent on the Mall on their first day went so well, they opened the Bad Advice Booth five more times.
“I would say we’ve interacted with at least 50 people so far,” Temmink says. “When you walk on the Mall, unless you’re an extreme extrovert, you’re unlikely to talk to someone you’ve never met before. We wanted to ask, ‘What have you been thinking about lately?’”
