August 2011
20 posts
Day 1
We were a bit nervous. The rain put a damper on the day and everyone was trickling in, unnerved by train delays and soggy clothes. Once we began, all of our concerns dissipated, as students seemed to feel comfortable rather quickly, as if we had been working together for weeks already. Even before we began our introductions, they voiced their concerns about the future and the economy. They opened...
“My mind is exploding with ideas!”
– A student’s response after a day of discussing Marx and William Morris readings, creating zine pages based on the concepts: “labor,” “money,” “play,” and “action” as well as beginning our first performance based actions.
Day 2
A light drizzle turned to showers as we gathered again, pouring over our receipts, snacks and clippings from magazines. Initial nerves are now replaced with the comfort of familiarity, excitement at the possibility of a big group effort, and a healthy amount of apprehension about making big decisions together.
We started the day by having students work on collages...
“Survival of the fittest is human nature just because the biggest asshole beats...”
– Christopher Ferrieiras’s response during a discussion on whether competition is a fixed quality of human nature.
Day 3
It’s our third day, and we’re realizing how amazingly well the project is going – everyone is working together, all the ideas that are flowing around are great, and there is an overall energy and excitement that is keeping things fun. To be honest, we had no idea that it would go so well! Setting the tone on the first day – making our goals of preparing an installation for the final public...
Day 4
Chase Wall
We’re kicking everything into gear today! Painting of the stains is well underway, Cindy and Yvonne are designing posters, and upon Andrew’s suggestion, we began collecting CHASE bank ATM receipts that reveal tiny but fascinating narratives just based on the amount of cash withdrawn and balance. We’ve decided to cover a whole wall with them! Our more successful...
WatchHow Much is Enough?: Interviewing Strangers at the Port Authority (Day 4)
We also started interviewing people down at the Port Authority today with the questions that we had narrowed down from our surveys and brainstorming sessions. We settled on the following:
How much is enough?
What did/do you want to be when you grow up?
How do you imagine the present?
Is competition natural?
Why should we...
Day 5
Stand Up
To view our Stand Up piece, click here
Working on the performances today was so much fun. What makes performance such a great collective activity – specifically our performance activities borne from Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed – is the fact that everyone has to be vulnerable. No one is exempted if everyone is participating. It’s in this space of vulnerability where you are...
WatchWhy Should We Try? (Day 5)
We realize that we really don’t have enough of our voices or conversations in the final show; so we begin interviewing each other with the same questions that we asked people at Port Authority. The students have amazing answers.
WatchExchange (Day 5)
I was excited about filming the performances. I think the simplicity in the gesture of human bodies portraying something is very strong. It is visually powerful and thought provoking and very mundane, but with the use of simplicity and repetition, I think we managed to create something very powerful. - Yvonne Romano
Watch
Stand Up (Day 5)
It was fun doing these performances. It was out of my comfort zone, not that I wasn’t willing to do it, it was just different from what I do in school. I definitely had a good time struggling from the pile, trying to stand up and thinking of what posture/gesture to do. I treat it more as a game rather than a project. It seemed more casual and natural that way. I think that...
Watch“Pile Up” (Day 5)
The body pile performance symbolized mainstream and creative labor. Within the pile, individuals are closely placed with one another: they have the option to accept the intimacy or attempt to block it. In struggling to exit the pile, others may act as counterweights or may choose to shift themselves to assist your escape. The process becomes a cycle. The performances...
Day 6
OMG I Look So Fucking Beautiful! or That Dream Got Me Good!
I loved screen-printing today! It was great to do something super hands-on with materials. I think everyone appreciated a break from so much thinking and performance, and relished in the kind of routine assembly-line teamwork that we set up in order to get it all done! We felt like good workers and art laborers!
Action Fighters
There...
Final Day before the Opening
(Yvonne’s list, keeping us on task)
No more time for thinking, just execution! Everyone worked together to get it all done. We had to do some re-filming of the performances, and then did all the tasks left to do: hanging receipts, putting up vinyl, putting up the posters, etc. It all got done, and we even managed to brainstorm a performance for the public opening event. WOW. I’m so amazed...
Opening
I am super anxious at first as the crowd trickles in. I’m worried that no one will come, that we’ve put so much energy into this, and the students will be disappointed. Robert is hiding behind the front desk. The girls are talking, laughing, nervous.
People start coming. We introduce them to the students and have the students walk them around. Is this a good idea? Maybe...
“This experience has changed me in that I try to think more about the present...”
– Cindy Liang, reflecting on the impact of participating in the project.
Huong's Reflections
We set out to create a platform for actions that were poetic responses to our everyday realities of labor and value.
I know I might sound like a gushing teacher, but I did not expect that I would feel so humbled, inspired, and excited by the students. Their perspectives constantly challenged my own ideas in the most refreshing ways. I also continue to think about the questions that we asked...
“I never took into account “value” and how value is measured and who...”
– Giovanni Martinez’s response when asked if his understanding of ‘value’ had changed after completing the project.
Hong-An's Reflections
About a month before we embarked on Acting the Words is Enacting the World, I re-read the debate that played out on the pages of Artforum in 2006 between Claire Bishop and Grant Kester about socially engaged art practice. I have always been partial to Bishop’s critique of the turn to ethical criticism over aesthetic judgments when evaluating socially engaged work, which is why I think we made it...
