New York City: A Laboratory of Modern Life

"FRIEND REQUEST" VIDEO PIECE

2009-08-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

SECRET XCHANGE PERFORMANCE PIECE

2009-08-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

PERFORMANCE PIECE STILLS & BACKGROUND

2009-07-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

NOTE: THE ABOVE PICTURE BELONGS AT THE BOTTOM, BUT I ADDED IT TOO LATE AND BLOGGER WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO UPLOAD IT ANYWHERE BUT RIGHT HERE, AT THE TOP. READ THE REST, AND IT WILL MAKE SENSE AFTER...

THE RULES:

THE PROJECT:

IN SHORT, THIS PIECE WAS LOOSELY INSPIRED BY THE CONTRIBUTORS OF FOUND MAGAZINE AND DAVID HORVITZ; THEY ARE TWO FORMS OF BOTH FOUND AND/OR IMPOSED ART/INFORMATION THAT PROVIDE A LOOK INTO THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ANONYMOUS PEOPLE.

MY "PERFORMANCE" IS THE EXCHANGE OF SECRETS BETWEEN MYSELF AND A STRANGER. I DOCUMENTED 25 TRUE SECRETS ABOUT MYSELF AND INDIVIDUALLY SEALED EACH ONE IN AN UNMARKED ENVELOPE. I WOULD THEN PROVIDE THE PARTICIPANT WITH A BLANK SHEET A PAPER, A SET OF THE RULES, AND THEIR OWN ENVELOPE. ASSUMING THEY AGREE TO THE TERMS, THEY ARE ASKED TO WRITE A SECRET ABOUT THEMSELVES, SEAL IT, AND THEN CHOOSE A DATE AND TIME IN WHICH THEY'D LIKE ME TO READ THEIR SECRET. IN TURN, THEY WILL CHOOSE ONE OF MY SECRETS (OUT OF [MY] MAGIC HAT, SHOWN BELOW) AND MARK IT WITH THE SAME DATE. WHEN THAT DAY AND TIME COME, WE WILL BOTH OPEN EACH OTHERS SECRETS.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PIECE IS NOT ONLY TO EXCHANGE AN INTIMATE OR PRIVATE DETAIL ABOUT YOUR LIFE, BUT TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD, IS DOING THE SAME EXACT THING AS YOU ARE, IN THAT EXACT MOMENT IN TIME... YOU HAVE NOW INTIMATELY CONNECTED WITH SOMEONE WHO YOU WILL (HOPEFULLY) NEVER SEE AGAIN. IN ITS SIMPLEST FORM, IT IS A SECRET WITHIN A SECRET; AN ANONYMOUS CONNECTION YOU HAVE MADE WITH ANOTHER HUMAN IN A WORLD FULL OF RANDOM EVENTS AND UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTERS; IT MAY BE A LOADED CONFESSION WITHOUT THE OBLIGATIONS OF CONSOLING OR EXPLAINING. IT MAY ALSO SERVE AS A CHANCE TO EMOTIONALLY LIBERATE YOURSELF WITHOUT THE PAINS OF PHYSICAL VULNERABILITY.

THE PICTURES ABOVE ARE THE RULES OF THE PIECE, A HAT FULL OF MY SECRETS, AND THE THREE ENVELOPES IN WHICH I WAS GIVEN BY PARTICIPANTS AND MAY NOT OPEN UNTIL THE DATES MARKED. ON THOSE DATES, I WILL OPEN THE CORRESPONDING ONES GIVEN TO ME IN EXCHANGE.

PAPA LOVES BABY, CONTINUED

2009-07-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

i don't know if papa still loves baby, but i continue to follow her trail...

this was taken on the corner of Chrystie and E. Houston

"WARD OFF EVIL, FREE!" INSTALLATION

2009-07-21T15:13:00.001-07:00

http://blip.tv/file/2385938/

PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION STILLS

2009-07-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

so what did the salt outside the door of the Japanese restaurant mean afterall? it is in fact used to ward off evil spirits. not only does it appear outside select restaurants, but is also used in Japanese funerals, so to keep any "evil spirits" from creeping out of their graves and coming home with you! in recognizing all the different functions salt serves, i wanted to offer it to the public with some explanation, and leave it to them to decide how they'd like to use it to their benefit, if at all.

this is what my installation looked like, set up on the corner of Bowery and Houston:

after 45 minutes and a few takers, this man was the first to open the salt on the spot and throw it over his shoulder for good luck:

one hour later, i returned to the scene, and this is what i found:

overall, i felt the installation was a success. when i was first faced with a small bowl of mystery substance on the floor outside a Japanese restaurant, i was both confused and curious. after doing a bit of research and learning the meaning in this found object, i wanted to offer it to the public with an explanation, and see if there would be any takers... and there was! some people dismissed the installation completely, some simply glanced, but some stopped to think about it... they discussed it with their pals, took pictures of it, grabbed some salt and ran away, and even opened it and threw it over their shoulders. it started a conversation, both personal and public. whether it was just with one other person or with the entire street, it made people think about something else, even for just a minute. with any installation, the passerby is forced to look at [it], but with something that invites you to participate, it pushes you to interact and brings the experience to a different level. even something as simple as taking a small bowl of salt opens your afternoon to new possibilities... will you research it? give it to a friend? put it outside your door? cook with it? or maybe just take it with you and keep it as a memory of that particular day in NYC (free protection from evil spirits could be a useful tool in this city!) either way, at the end of the day, 9 lucky people walked away with a plastic bowl of kosher salt and a hopefully some good luck, on me.

video coming soon!

PAPA LOVES BABY

2009-07-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

tonight's graffiti lecture made me want to share just some (of the many) interactions i've had with the infamous "PAPA LOVES BABY" of the LES:

INSTALLATION RESEARCH

2009-07-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

from the small bit of digging i've done on my found object, i've read that it isn't uncommon for Japanese restaurants to keep a small bowl of salt outside their restaurants to either attract customers or ward off evil spitits.

one internet source says "salt was put outside geisha places and other drinking establishments for good luck (to bring customers) since in the old days, patrons arrived by horse-drawn carriage or whatever, and the horses like salt, and if the owner put salt outside the door, the horse would stop and lick the salt, the passengers could think about coming in, and voila, business began to boom."

there is a chance that there may be some truth in this story, as it appeared the most in my search, however, i am going to ask around and find out the details of the salt-outside-the-doors origin. the different meaning(s) could change the installation completely. i want to illustrate the bowl's purpose through the installation while keeping its mysticism intact. the piece should be open to interpretation, but grounded in something real and meaningful, as it was originally intended.

time to do some Japanese restaurant hopping...

PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION IDEA

2009-07-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

THE FOUND OBJECT:

tiny porcelain bowl with mystery powder outside Japanese restaurant

THE INSTALLATION IDEA:

i'd like to place this tiny bowl on a high table on the sidewalk and perhaps glorify and enhance its miniature existence with a desk lamp, highlighting only the bowl and the substance it carries. i want it to evoke curiosity and question... what is the meaning of this bowl? it is random? cultural? i will have to offer a hint, perhaps a menu, as to where it came from... but more so, i'd like it to raise thoughts about the possibility of the object alone... what purpose it serves. how it may be filled, emptied, washed, re-used, etc. what is inside the bowl offers a new set of possibilities. overall, i'd like to bring attention to this tiny out of place object, and force people to place it, somewhere in their minds.

this is just a rough idea.

AUDITORY VOYEURISM

2009-07-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

listen to my nyc audio tour here: http://justsays0what.tumblr.com/

the post is dated July 16th at 11:11am

RONNIE STONER: FROM SEATTLE TO ST. MARKS

2009-07-02T20:57:00.001-07:00

JOLIE WEARS THE HEART OF THE CITY ON HER SLEEVE

2009-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00