Inside the box
''HEY, WOULD YOU like to make a suggestion?" That's what Otis Kriegel and Michael McDevitt, who during the past three years have toted a white cardboard box stenciled ''SUGGESTION" to every corner of New York, asked passersby--while brandishing clipboards, paper, and pens. The duo, who call themselves Illegal Art, have just released the results of their ambitious performance piece-cum-survey. Some 350 of the over 1,800 frequently thought-provoking, and just as frequently kooky ideas, opinions, and exhortations solicited from ''the young, the old, the filthy rich, the homeless, the mouthy, and the shy" (as Illegal Art describe their respondents) have been reproduced in ''Suggestion," an inexhaustible little volume published this month by Chronicle Books.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the public's innermost desire is a kind of hedonistic, libertarian utopia. Asked via e-mail about popular themes that emerged from their data, McDevitt replied, ''Three-day weekend, legalize marijuana, free beer, more money for all, down with the government, finding love, finding a job, finding ice cream." But because New Yorkers were invited to make suggestions about whatever they wanted to, he pointed out, ''there were so many random ones too, like 'Larger Intangible Objects,' 'I suggest the chicken,' or 'I'd like to suggest that Hasidic men consider a lighter summer look." Kriegel's favorite suggestion? ''People should stop doing public art projects."
At the risk of bringing the wrath of Bostonians down on myself, I'd like to suggest that readers post suggestions--about anything, anything at all--to a Boston.com message board created for this very purpose. It's accessible from the Ideas homepage (Boston.com/ideas). 