NYC Lab Assignment Final: Short Film

NYC Lab Assignment #4 continued

I deviated from my original idea, realizing that my initial thoughts missed the point a bit. Instead I decided to create an Affirmations Booth, where people could still come in and be showered with compliments, without all of the disco ball clubfest antics.

I created a 30-second track, which contains a myriad of compliments. At the end, I asked them to pose for a picture with one of three signs (their choice). The signs said the following:

-I am awesome.

-I am proud of myself.

-I am smiling because I know I am wonderful.

To support this idea, I created a Tumblr blog to publicly display all of the photos. I gave a slip of paper to each participant with the web address, so they could access the blog and see their photo, in addition to everyone else who participated in the project.

I didn’t properly articulate to my friend who was filming exactly WHAT we were trying to document, so he focused much more on each participant and their reactions to the words in the headphones, rather than the entire experience, which involved encouraging people to listen to whatever wacky shit I had on my headphones and then me standing there, holding my iPod, smiling lovingly at each listener. However, we did encounter lots of great people across the East Village last night. A few people reciprocated by showering us with compliments (thanks!). One guy serenaded us with a violin. One girl enthusiastically told us about a benefit she was organizing for Children of Chernobyl. Another lovely lady told us that she just found out she got a new job to replace one that she completely hated, so the affirmations made her feel even better. If I continue this project, I definitely want to be in a place where I can encounter a more diverse population, but in a world where monsoons are a daily part of life (this project was scheduled to happen TWICE and was rained out both times), you have to seize those few moments when you have clear skies and friends willing to help out.

Kudos to all of you. YOU ARE AWESOME!

NYC Lab Assignment #4: Performance Art

I think the concept of complete fairness has been on my mind since I was a 4-year-old, asking my parents why I never got a turn to drive the car. Since then, issues that divide us with relation to age, sex (my father told me at a very young age that my brother was going to get different treatment because he was a boy), class, race and any other segregating factor have always been trigger points for me, inspiring rants, protests, tantrums, and sometimes, plans of action.

With this in mind, I wanted to create a performance that would be designed to level the playing field. My idea is to have a public, outdoor space roped off, almost like a club. Outside will be a friend inviting guests into the “club” and a bouncer to make sure nothing gets too out of hand. In the center of the space will be one of my infamous disco balls and myself with one of the following: a) iPod speakers and an iPod or b) and iPod connected to two sets of headphones.

There will be no discrimination about who can enter this club, with only one stipulation: they have to enter one at a time. While inside the space they will be made to feel very special and invited to dance or just hang out and listen to music as long as they want. Maybe we’ll hug them when they leave. Or shake their hand. Or look them in the eyes lovingly. Everyone should leave feeling like they are awesome and special.

I’m unsure of my location for this project. I scouted an area on Houston between Orchard and Ludlow that would be easy to rope off and contain this “club.” However, I had a second thought that it may be an interesting juxtoposition to place this “club” in a notoriously clubby area, like the Meat Packing district. Although I want to be located in an area that will have a rather diverse group of pedestrians, and that will probably not be found in the MPD.

Performance Art Project: You Are Awesome. Coming to a street near you.

NYC Lab Assignment #3 Continued (again)

Success! The disco ball went on a mini-tour to the park and to a streetcorner.

NYC Lab Assignment #3 Continued: The Installation

My idea was kind of ambitious for such a small timeline, but I thought it could be done. I liked Gabe’s suggestion to put the speakers inside the disco ball because it would make it more portable and also easier to install/control since I was just going to be manually turning the music on. I spent quite a bit of time on Friday shopping for an affordable disco ball and battery operated, remote controlled iPod speakers. No success. The only disco balls I could find were motorized and pricey, and none of the remote controlled speakers I found were also battery operated. So I decided to make my own disco ball out of old promo CDs from the days when I was a music writer.

It was kind of a tedious task, with all the cutting and hot gluing, but I tried to remain patient. I made it into a dome shape, so I could fit the speakers inside. On Saturday I finally found speakers, and I thought I was going to be in business. I brought them home and put them inside the disco ball, hit play on the remote … and nothing. I maneuvered around the room in a few different ways and rearranged the disco ball a few times. Still nothing. The remote is really picky and only receives the signal from about 2 feet away in a direct line of the base of the dock. So after spending all day putting this magical disco ball together, I decided that this was not going to work.

On Sunday I found a party light set, which I thought I could use if I could fashion a base that would hold the speakers but allow the remote sensor to be exposed. I brought them home and made a few prototypes. The remote still hated me.

Finally on Monday I finished the damn thing, deciding that I would just create a small model of my original concept and have the whole thing on the whole time instead of reacting to people as they approach. The flashy lights and disco ball spinning and music on should attract people, no? I spent some time scouting out a few park locations that are always populated with people of various ages.  I made a date with my roommate/fellow art lover/Pratt Institute attender to be my assistant on Tuesday morning. We were to meet early in Ft. Greene park, on a corner that is always populated by morning joggers, dog walkers, kids playing, people cutting through to walk to the train, etc. I woke up early to an unpleasant sound: rain.

Since this whole thing is battery operated, installing it in the rain is a bad idea. There was a break in the rain during the afternoon when I had a minute, so I took a quick walk down to the park with the disco party in hand. The park was deserted. And it had started raining again. I was out of time and out of luck.

Here’s a demo of the whole gadget at work:

Video of it actually installed in public to come…

NYC Lab Assignment #3: Public Art (Insta-Rave)

The found object, which I am basing this assignment on, is a safe sex flyer written by this kid Justin that I found laying in the middle of Astor Pl.

His face immediately struck me, making me know this wasn’t just a regular party flyer. When I turned it over to read the rather long story on the back, the first thing he tells is this:

My name is Justin and I’m 20 years old. I’m a vogue fem. I joined the ball scene because I was already a dancer and it makes me feel good to be able to express who I am as a dancer.

He goes on to tell a rather graphic story about having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive partner and about how he didn’t like to use condoms because he thought they were too tight/didn’t feel good. And of course there’s the happy ending where he finds out he’s not HIV-positive and now loves to use condoms. THE END.

The flyer also contained a link to MyBallRoomLife.com, which turned me onto a whole scene of vogue dancers who battle in these GLBT gatherings.

Over the past year or so I’ve been collecting footage of people who spontaneously begin dancing, as it’s a phenomenon that fascinates me. What makes people suddendly want to dance? What triggers the need to move? I’ve decided to combine this fascination with this new discovery of the vogue parties that our new friend Justin attends to create a public art installation.

It works like this: A disco ball is installed into the center of a 10-to-20-foot area in an outdoor space, such as a park. As passers-by approach the disco ball, once they are about 4 feet from it, house music begins playing. Once they pass by, and get more than 4 feet away from the disco ball, the music stops. The hope is the unexpectedness of the music in an outdoor/non-club environment, combined with the IRRESISTIBLE disco ball, many people will have no choice but to dance.

Ideally this would be created with either camera tracking or motion sensors, but since I am at the very beginning of my ITP career and have mimimal capabilities with these sorts of things, I think the sound will have to be created manually (i.e., I will have to be discreetly standing by and hit “play” when people approach). Once I find a location, I plan to have this installed for at least 4 hours and will document the process with video.

Wanna see a really shitty mock-up I did in a free paint program? I know you do:

Also, anyone have a disco ball I can borrow?

NYC Lab Assignment #2: Audio Tour

Every Monday night, I have rehearsal within the depths of Bushwick, on a street with very poor lighting, across the street from a huge industrial building. There are occasional other people passing by and lots of loud, city noise. I’m typically not a really paranoid pedestrian, but I think this street would make most single females nervous. Leaving at 10 or 10:30 p.m. always makes me really nervous, as I just want to escape the dark street as quickly as possible, round the corner and get to the bus stop (which of course comes with its own host of problems–catcalls, horn honking, offers for “rides,” etc.). This audio tour is a field recording from these two blocks I walk from the rehearsal space to the bus stop, and I tried to capture two things specifically: 1) the paranoia that I feel every time I do this walk and 2) how much louder Bushwick seems at night than any other neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Download the tour here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/kzuzm2wtkof/myrtle ave bushwick 2.wav

NYC Lab Assignment #1: Capturing the City

I admit, I was a bit nervous about this assignment. After years of sexual harassment by men on corners, men in cars, cops … I’ve grown accustomed to navigating the city armed with an iPod and sunglasses, trying to avoid as many strangers as possible (or at least block out their lewd comments). I tend to prefer to meet strangers at parties, where a little social lubricant is available/expected.

Enter: Myra. My four-year-old (almost five!) savior. While camped out at the landromat in my neighborhood (Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) doing some post-holiday laundry, I had the pleasure of meeting this tiny little curious human being. She was at the laundromat with her sister, with whom she lives “down the street,” according to Myra. Her mother lives close, she thinks, but her dad lives far away. She doesn’t see him very often, but she said she “loves him a lot” and “can’t wait to see him again.” Her sister, who was much older, was naturally quite protective of Myra, but she was also oppressive, not wanting her sister to bother any of the other laundromat patrons.

As soon as I pulled out my cell phone with its fancy touch screen, Myra was instantly curious. She took it from me and started framing some shots of her own.

After turning the camera around on me for a few shots, she started to get more abstract with her photography. She especially loved the photo of our feet.

I stepped away to fold my clothes for a few minutes, and when I came back, she had already taken someone else’s phone hostage, ignoring her doll and her books indefinitely.