New York artists Jason Eppink and Posterchild prompted their local government to fix a leaky pipe by building a small bridge over the sidewalk sludge.
Astoria Scum River Bridge project page
(Note that the media attention came after the agreement to fix it)
New York’s prestigious MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) is showing its biggest performance art exhibition ever in honour of the 40-year career of performance artist Marina Abramovic.
The biggest draw of the festivities however is facing the artist herself.
Photo By Scott Rudd © 2010
Dedicated to sitting on a chair for seven hours a day, six days a week (no breaks, no stretching, no eating, just a water bottle and a suspected catheter) she offers an empty seat across from her and a small table to those willing to wait five hours in line to stare at her. In a large square room. Surrounded by a hundred or so people also staring at you.
Being awkward is still taboo. Especially in New York.
But what sounds like punishing boredom is almost nirvana for most who participate; some have come to tears, some run away and some return for more. The title of the performance is The Artist Is Present which is apt for what the performance masterpiece is about; a ready availability of “feeling” the Artist. Perhaps a nod to public accountability and the slow rise demand of social transparency, what a great way to confront passive aggressiveness than with confrontation itself. And really, it’s just sitting in a chair and looking.
“I think they lose all perception of time when they get up there.”
The performance art exhibition includes around several dozen other concepts including a reenactment of Imponderabilia (1977) where show-goers must squeeze by two standing nude performers at a narrow entrance to get in, or enter via an out of the way side door.
Ultimately, this show is for those willing to challenge themselves, while questioning how we deal with others, instead of taking the side door.
The MoMA exhibition runs until May 31, 2010.
The City of New York sent out a survey last June to 100,000 randomly-selected New York City households to gauge the opinions on a wide range of city services.
“In the private sector, I learned you can never acquire too much pertinent data to help improve your business,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a press release in December 2008 when the City released the survey results. “With the economy causing tax revenues to fall, it’s more important than ever for City agencies to be effective, efficient, and responsive. To do that, we need to obtain as much accurate information as possible to make smart decisions about where to invest our limited resources.
Now The New York Times has taken that data and produced a nice map indicating the survey results in five light to dark colours. Light colours mean good and dark colours means the residents are not happy.
Interestingly, the top two issues for the poor and rich alike: rats and street noise.
Also see The New York Times’ Represent tool.
(props to West End Dumplings for finding this; rats)
Alex Reid is a Canadian who likes a lot of things. Welcome to my world.