publicartreform

Idea Webs- Chalking Union Square

2008-04-04T06:57:00.001-07:00

Its spring! Yippie! And with the onset of spring 90% of New York's public space now becomes comfortable, tolerable, pleasant. New ideas are in bloom.

For starts- idea webs. Start with a thought, an idea, a question. From this center location ideas build upon ideas and connect to new ideas and new questions. This was done in chalk in union square. Quite a large amount of people participated.

pictures of the actual event will be forthcoming.

18th Century Calivinist sermon, Drumsticks, Subway Station

2007-12-17T18:51:00.001-08:00

Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" from 1741 while drumming in the W4th St Subway station. Turned out to be quite interesting and wrathful.

listen to the piece and get fired up!
http://64.34.176.235/...

styrofoam- the mighty accoustic giant

2007-11-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

On a walk this evening I discovered a piece of styrofoam. As I started kicking it around I noticed it had quite a lovely sound to it. The styrofoam continued along adding strange plastic bouncy sounds to the metallic east-village surroundings. T'was at Washington Square where I noticed that the styrofoam also can be played as a drum and get a loud piercing Bam! As I found all sorts of different tones resonating I thought how quite remarkable and swell a small forgotten piece of trash can be. A gaggle of children and the fountain in Washington Square Park (which is a strange acoustic structure as well) aided in the experiment.

Making art at Moma

2007-11-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

The Museum of Modern Art. How lovely. Even more lovely, the free Fridays that they offer. All sorts of people interested in seeing challenging and subversive creations flock in for the chance to see what is going on in the world of modern art. Oooohs and Aaaaahs. With pink post-it notes in hand and a sharpie I added to the art scene imparting vibrant new pieces and fresh responses to old ones. I was quite surprised by how some people thought this was actually part of the Moma exhibit. I was also quite surprised by how easy it was to do. Now anybody can have their work shown at the Moma.

Some examples:

Random wall- A stick figure.
Random wall- Do I belong here?
A painting that looked like fruit loop- Yum, Fruit loops!

July Art Mumur- Accordion Musical Wheel

2007-07-21T22:36:00.001-07:00

The May Art Murmur Was met with the world's first musical improvisational wheel. On this wheel there are three rungs.

The outer rung- This is the musical rung. It contains chord progressions, random chords, "dissonance", etc.
The middle rung- This is the lyrical content rung. It contains things to be sung like "ah" or "ooh" to "eeh." Also more involved lyrical phrases.
The inner rung- This is the mood rung. It contains the mood of the song. Affirmative, Calm, Anger, etc.

The idea is that the passer-by positions the wheel to his choosing and then I improvise accordingly. It worked quite well.

Urban Dialoging (A First: Chicago)

2007-06-14T23:25:00.001-07:00

Urban Dialoging

The urban landscape is filled with objects, buildings, persons, smells and feelings that are usually left unobserved and unnoticed. Through the act of dialoging the city becomes a conversation. Signposts speak to fire hydrants. Newspaper dispensers ask questions to the public that open them. Lonely unobserved sides of buildings call out to the public to be noticed. Urban dialoging is essentially about bringing connectedness between an individual and the people and objects of his urban experience by engaging the individual in a conversation with these things.

Urban dialoging has two components:

Part 1. The initial canvassing. The group meets at a central location and gathers their weaponry- a sharpie, a stack of papers, a roll of duct tape, and a stack of pens attached to string. All at once we take off in different directions in a large defined area and begin canvassing. There are no restrictions as to where one can canvass. The content of the paper should be directed towards a specific urban scene, environment or object. Once a piece of paper is placed, attach the pen to it.

Part 2. The secondary canvassing. After about an hour of canvassing we will reconvene in the same central location. The group then goes out and starts adding to the dialogue using the pens that were attached to them. We will reconvene after about 30 minutes.

Here are some general guidelines that one can choose to follow or not while canvassing:
-The message of a card can be done in either first person (the actual object speaking) or third person. Try mixing both of these perspectives.
-Try using a variety of tones- playful, earnest, somber, endearing, cute, morose, etc. Dialogue is not a monotone phenomenon.
-If you are going to place a piece of paper in a private place, be swift and inconspicuous about it.
-Be creative about card placement. Manhole covers, street musicians and discarded pieces of trash are all great candidates for canvassing.

May Art Murmur

2007-05-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Art Mumur- a chance for Oakland artists to show off their hard work. Also a chance for all the bourgeois to come out and walk around viewing art and sipping wine. I say to those elect few let art be done not merely seen or "experienced."

Talking Public Objects- Part 1

2007-04-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

Certain objects in public deserve a right to speak back. I have momentarily placed myself in their position and with much playfulness spoke on their behalf. Enjoy.

Trash on Ground: "When you are lost do people think of you as trash?"

A Metal Rail: "Even though I am cold and metallic, I could still use your support."

Tree: "I am not a tree"

Trash Can: "Are you too a recipient of refuse?"

Pledge Away Anxiety

2007-04-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

What are we really doing when we give a few dollars to the sympathetic college student representing various organizations to stop world hunger, AIDS, poverty? Why are monetary donations the only ones that are accepted by these organizations? Can giving be a little more creative? Can it be a little more personal? Here is one experiment on this subject:

Do you have a moment to help end world anxiety?
Did you know that over 100 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety?
Currently, the United States has allocated a mere .05% of its budget to the alleviation of suffering.
We at the Associated of Anxiety Prevention recognize that suffering is a major problem worldwide and are asking you to help us get rid of anxiety.
Actually we don't accept any monetary or tangible donations.
What members have done in the past is make a pledge for a certain amount of hours in a given week they will donate to preventing anxiety in themselves or others.

To view the results of our survey- click
To log the success of your pledge- click

Survey Results

2005-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

Total Hours a Week Pledged: 1,902 hours
Smallest Pledge: 1 minute
Largest Pledge: 12 hours
Average Age: 25
Age Median: 20
Average Pledge: 118 minutes
Pledge Median: 30 minutes