Project Statement

The project is about Lincoln Center. While I was working on the subway project, I noticed the MTA art was dedicated to Lincoln Center and the subject was celebrating performing arts. So for this project, my attention was caught by Lincoln Center, a landmark in Manhattan that marks the city’s appreciation for performing arts and artists. For this project, I started with the idea of interactive art. I want this public narrative to be interactive so that people would participate in enjoying and celebrating performing arts. Since Lincoln Cetner is a public space with crowds and visitors constantly passing by, the project should be aware of the demographic information of the area as well as the audience it is targeting.
One important consideration is to arrange the space for this project. Since it is an interactive project in a public space where people would passing by constatly, it is important that the project would not cause traffic or danger for visitors. On the other hand, I hope this project could caught attention since it is about celebrating performing art and interact with the audience. It would be a better idea to install this project in an obvious place. My proposal is to embed this project into the stairs. In this way, passengers could just walk and still interact with the project by stepping on it, on their way entering.
The project itself aiming to interact with the audience. It is inspired by the mixing table with blocks. However, instead of blocks, the project interact with the steps people take in different areas. When different areas are stepped upon there will be music coming out. The volume shouldn’t be louder than the voice of chatting. It should be subtle but audible. It is safe for the passengers. The major audiences would be passengers or visitors.

I have an example for this project, which reflects on the My Fair Lady show playing in the Lincoln center. The left and right tracks represent different part of the stairs. When they are stepped upon, the tracks would play. They could be play separately but this is the demo of them playing together.

notes:all stairs would be embedded like the purple and red ones. 

Final Project Questions to Consider

1. Discussion of the site and the pertinent conditions that will have an impact on your project

- My project is located in East Bushwick. This area has seen little gentrification so far and still is home to a large population of low-income Hispanic residents. Keeping that in mind, our presence is not an immediate necessity, which is why El Sótano is focused on making the space an all-inclusive and easily accessible space that appeals to the public in the area and elsewhere. We want to bring art to this area as a way of communication. Much of the public art in the area has the motif of bringing the community together for positive change. Luckily, our presence and the structure of the project is very far from the capitalist structure that causes more gentrification so we hope to not be placed in the same category as art spaces that are a catalyst for that. 

  2. Discussion of how that project intersect with government structures and regulations;

- I plan to register this project as a non-profit organization, which means there is a dependency on the government for resources. These resources will be met through grants that would be used to finance the production of exhibitions, artist talks, and events. We will have to register the space as a non-profit and learn how to write grants, know who to reach out to for sponsorships, and networking to find funds elsewhere. 

3. Discussion of what you see as a realistic planning, development and execution timeline;

-Currently, we are established as an informal space. We have had our first artist talk and we are in the process of setting up for our first exhibition that was achieved through an international open call. I am hoping that in the next 6-9 months we will have at least 3-4 more exhibitions and plenty more artist talks and community outreach events. We plan to host an exhibition for world pride month in June. Hopefully, in September of 2019, we will apply to be a non-profit. We plan to stay in the current space for as long as possible. 

4. The initial outline of aspects of the project that will have associated costs, make notes about what is required to determine real costs

- The most basic cost is rent but due to our situation, that is already covered within our personal rent for living, meaning that having the space is at no additional cost to us. The other costs include all materials for exhibitions such as flyers, posters, catalogs, installation materials, and shipment of artworks. So far, we are asking artists to provide everything necessary for their individual pieces to be shipped and installed and then reshipped to them. We are paying out of our own pocket for other materials. We wish to, in the near future, be able to have grants for the production of events and exhibitions. 

Grand Central installation - Kristiana

Dating sites attempt to make users describe themselves, define themselves in 200 words or less—highlighting the most important things about themselves. By visually looking at what people say about themselves and what they look for in a relationship, one can map a mosaic of human relationships based on what people want from a partner. The end result of the project will take the form of an interactive infographic that would be projection mapped onto the constellation ceiling of Grand Central Terminal. 750,000 people pass through the station every day, these are our potential users. They can parse through or contribute to the data via interactive screens placed throughout the terminal. There is something poetic about seeing and forming connections at places that connect us to other places—I can see this installation being installed in airports such as JFK or LaGuardia, but Grand Central's constellation ceiling has a very satisfying shape, perfect for an immersive dome experience.

Through the process of web scraping multiple online dating sites such as Tinder, OkCupid, Coffee and Bagel, etc, one can categorize words and phrases and separate them with gender, sexuality, and age. By examining the datasets of these sites, I can ask questions such as, “what are the top first dates?” or “what are the top turn-ons?” As of this month (November 2018), the top turn-on qualities are intelligence, nice smile, and a sense of humor. After the user shares their interests and qualities, they can upload their profile and send it off onto the projection ceiling. I think there should be a haptic quality embedded into the experience such as a touch pad making a short vibration when someone else touches a pad on the other side of the building or if the interface were a mobile app it can vibrate when you are matched. This aspect is still in progress.

This project is for those who seek a relationship and the participants are willing to share themselves onto the projected screen and open space under the constellation. This would certainly be a group effort that consists of engineers—particularly for projection rigging and web/interface development, interaction designers, and motion graphics designers. Permission is needed by the MTA Arts and Design and Grand Central authorities. Safety and space use permits are needed as well. 

Final Project Essay

El Sótano Art Space

El Sótano Art Space was born out of a need for a space for underrepresented artists to share, collaborate, create, and most importantly, discuss art in a vacuum that emphasizes the cultural and social value over the capitalistic value of art.

Over the past years, for my personal interest and practice, I have researched and studied alternative spaces and how they came into existence. It began in the 60s when the MoMA was rethinking the set up of exhibitions due to artist demand. Museums and galleries were not catching up to the rapid changing structures of modernist art which caused for a push by artists on institutions to create spaces for art that were more politically and socially conscious of the work and of the public domain. This started with the Spaces exhibition in the MoMA and permeated across the art world, creating the concept of “alternative spaces” which has changed throughout the years due to the changing nature of the function of these spaces, but they have stayed true to providing spaces that maintain the artist in mind and reject the formalities and the white-cute aesthetics and mentality of galleries.

After Spaces at the MoMA, spaces such as 112 Greene Street or 112 Workshop came into being in New York City. 112 Greene St was a space that was created out of the need “for radical change in the art-showing process.” It was situated in the basement of a large building in SoHo where artists had full freedom and control to use and manipulate the space to exhibit their work or to create new works. The space was considered to be “raw” in that the owners never polished the basement but instead left the original architectural and interior structures and aesthetics to exemplify the natural and unrefined look that parallels the freedom and liberty that the space gives artists to make and exhibit work.

Fast forward to the 2000s and the art world in NYC has moved from downtown Manhattan to parts of Brooklyn and Queens. NY artists and curators were seeking an alternative to the traditional gallery context which brought a push, specifically by those whose work stems from conceptualism and performance, to exhibit in spaces that were not commercial and that could flourish in an environment separate to that which had been created by the art market. Orchard founded by Andrea Fraser, Fareth James, and Christian Philip-Muller were involved in this revolutionary movement by creating a space where money was secondary and the space does not advertise fame and fortune through artwork but rather focuses on a variety of artists showing their work in the context appropriate for their medium and purpose.

In 2003, Kelly Taxter and Pascal Spengemann organized Taxer’s apartment in Chelsea for art shows. In Bushwick, Paul D’Agostino currently runs the oldest running gallery in Bushwick which has not only been a staple for the Bushwick art scene but a model for many alternative spaces in the area. The concept of the intimacy of the living-room essence is important for the dynamic of the alternative living room gallery to work. The psychological manipulation of the audience causes for authority and professionalism not be established by the space but rather by the artists, the art, and the visitors. The importance I see here is the separation from the traditional white-cube setting that becomes an antagonist for fruitful discussion.

The outlook alternative spaces have on art and their position with the art market could be described as Olav Velthuis’ description of “Hostile Worlds”. Velthuis defines Hostile Worlds as a framework that focuses on the “detrimental effects of the confrontation between the logic of the arts and the logic of capitalist markets.” This viewpoint elucidates the negative outcomes that evidently separate the artist from their work as well as the audience due to the introduction of capitalist view that causes this alienation. It states that, when viewed through a capitalist lens, art becomes a commodity or a fetish due to its market value being more important than its intrinsic value. This is the inevitable outcome that the art market brings into play within traditional gallery settings which alters the view of the artwork.

The white-cube exists because of the art market. Although they are not always directly paired (the separation of the concepts of the “front room” and the “back room” in galleries) the set up is made so that the front room implies the commercial aspects of the art that then happens in the back room. The gallery space is defaulted to fall into the norms of being bare minimalistic, with each work having a certain autonomy with the space between the works. Galleries, therefore, create an atmosphere through their architectural and interior designs that psychologically manipulate the behavior of the viewer. The implied cultural and social value of the work that is given an invisible price tag by the space assures that viewers maintain their distance, regard the space in a professional and conservative way, speak quietly, and become aware and self-conscious of themselves within the space. The artist is rarely seeing, if ever, and information about the work is often limited to what is said in the press release or by tags near the works limited to 80 words. The elitist implications of the space skew the experience of the viewer and therefore skewes the true meaning of the works.

Arjo Klamer’s concepts of cultural goods is also evident within alternative  spaces. Klamer’s definition of cultural goods and their ties to “cultural conversations” touches on the idea that cultural goods are shaped by the conversations that are held about and around them. These conversations create a set of rules and principles in which the cultural good lives within which produces values and meaning for the work. Alternative spaces emphasize the intention to raise the cultural value rather than the monetary value of the piece.

Martin Beck, nearing the end of his essay, Alternative: Space raises the concern that due to the rapid changing mainstream culture, alternative spaces have been put into question as an increase in the availability of cultural venues continues to expand. This increase in different spaces jeopardizes the visibility of true alternative spaces and the paradigms for alternative spaces. Beck claims that alternative spaces were a movement that was time-based and contingent upon the social, political, and aesthetical positions of the time and therefore reliant upon these conditions to merely exist. As time continues, these factors change, yet the need for alternative spaces is still necessary, especially in the contemporary scene where art fairs, the expansion of Chelsea, Williamsburg, and Bushwick art galleries, and the technological effects on the art market (now being digital e.g. Artsy) have increased the consumerist and capitalistic notions are prevalent now more than ever.   

Using this as a foundation for El Sótano, I wish to bring these historical contexts into the contemporary realm and see how these will shift, what new approaches need to be made, and how the contemporary atmosphere of the art world will react with El Sótano. El Sótano grew out of a realization that there was a lack of space for representation of the diverse and inspiring new creative minds that are underrepresented within the art world. As artists in New York City, we have experienced the dividing limitations and boundaries that need to be crossed to be seen in the art world and want to create a space free of them. El Sótano seeks to cultivate a space for conversation that focuses on the cultural and social value of the arts. As we work to catalyze change, we seek to not only provide a space, but also support to all those who come to make El Sótano an artistic community.

Project Proposal

Monica Faltas and Lacey Loughlin

Our project evolved from a broad focus on sexual assault in general into a primary focus on the recovery process for victims of sexual assault. What we’d like to create a space in which victims can feel safe and comfortable enough to lay down the walls that they inevitably put up after their assaults. This space will most likely include a combination of quiet and meditative spaces as well as spaces in which victims can learn more about how to protect themselves moving forward. We’d like to incorporate as much nature in the space as possible, though that may be limited by the New York City location. This will probably be achieved by  including as much plant life and daylight as possible. The building will most likely be no more than two or three levels, each level designated to one aspect of what we’d like the space to provide.

In doing some research about the sexual assault recovery process, we found 4 aspects that can somehow be manifested into a physical space. These are therapy, self-care, safety planning, and media consumption. We are looking into how possible it would be to have some volunteer therapists there for visitors to come speak to. As for self care, we’d like to provide a program that includes things such as yoga classes and meditation sessions. We’d also like to have some safety planning classes on the program, such as self-defense courses and courses that can inform visitors of some other safety tips. And because many shows, movies, and some social media content today include scenes and imagery that can be deemed very triggering for victims, we’d like the space to be a tech-free zone in order to disconnect from the media.

In terms of the physical aspects of the space, we are doing research into multiple aspects such as color, aroma, sound, etc. Color of course plays an enormous role in how people feel, so we’ll most likely stick to very soft, pastel colors. Since the space is in the very loud New York City, we may include a lot of sound proof construction. We want visitors to separate from the loud and sometimes overwhelming noises of the city and just to create some distance from all the noise, both literal and otherwise. We haven’t looked too deeply into aromas yet, but might lean again towards the natural and the scents that are difficult to find within New York City.

The initial sketch below depicts a three-story high building. The front opens up to the street and will most likely have some sort of calming features, i.e. fountain or greenery. Walking forward, one is met with a patterned glass wall and doorway. Inside will most likely contain an elevator, staircase, seating area, and information center. This area begins the ‘no electronics’ space, creating a safe atmosphere. The walls are also sound proof, adding to the calming effect. Upstairs is an open area for self-defense classes, yoga, meditation, or counseling. The space will contain greenery, seating, an open platform, and plenty of natural light.

Project Proposal - Huzaima, Natasha

New York City overtime has become a huge hub for new and innovative cuisines. The result of that has lead to a diversity of cultures in the city, and an increase in the popularity of "street food" and "to-go foods". Food and the concept of dining has always brought people and communities together. Restaurants, food halls, markets, food festivals, and even street carts are constructed environments in which many gather and meet. However, the common trend in the food industry, specifically in NYC, has been to stereotype appetite based on how much you can pay. Furthermore, a lot of the real estate in NYC is dedicated to the food industry resulting in classism and inequality. We believe that food should be accessible to everyone, as it is a fundamental human necessity. Our goal is to target and deconstruct the concept of food “stereotyping” as well as increase the social mobility and awareness of food equality. This public installation, through accepting donations of recycled materials and waste will celebrate inclusivity and equality. All metals, paper, and plastic materials are accepted; The donations will be exchanged into a new form of currency which will grant the user access to a “special” menu item, to redeem at one of our partnered food vendors. Through partnering with different local food vendors and chains, we aim to grant more food access to the public and encourage recycling and sustainable ways of disposal.  

The target location is the Flatiron District, from 18th street through 30th street, spanning across Lexington Avenue until 6th Avenue. The Flatiron district is a dynamic hub for retail, business, and restaurants. It is one of the central meeting points in the city where communities come together to enjoy its amenities. The area houses all types of restaurants ranging in prices, from Eataly to Trader Joe’s, McDonald's to Shake Shack, Sarabeth’s to The Taste of Persia.    

Our target audience are the general local residents and employees of the Flatiron District, individuals with a limited access to food such as the homeless and underprivileged, food activists, social programs and organizations, environmentally aware individuals, and so-called ‘green’ people that are fighting and promoting recycling. We seek to involve our target audience to help us realize this project. Potential valuable participants are artists working with waste as their medium. An example would be the Brooklyn Arts Council, they offer a surplus of found recycled materials for artist use. Furthermore, Sure We Can is a homeless-friendly can redemption center that seeks to eliminate the hardship that homeless canners face every day. Sure We Can is our potential participant as it shares a similar mission.

Sources :

https://foodtank.com/news/2014/12/nine-awesome-food-organizations-in-new-york/

(food organizations in new york)

http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/documents/2043

https://foodtank.com/news/2014/10/food-tank-and-james-beard-foundation-2014-good-food-org-guide/

http://www.surewecan.org

https://sanctuaryrestaurants.org

Mission statement - We stand by restaurant workers, owners, and consumers and respect their dignity, human rights, and contributions to our industry and our nation – including immigrants, refugees, people of all genders, faiths, races, abilities, and sexual orientations. We have zero tolerance for sexism, racism, and xenophobia. We believe that there is a place at the table for everyone.

https://foodfirst.org   (Social movements fighting for food justice and food sovereignty around the world)

Reading Response

Love sculpture is the artwork by American artist Robert Indiana. There are four letters L O V and E on its body. It is in color red and blue. Originally it was a port art image in blue, red and green. It was served as a print image for a MOMA Christmas card in 1964. The sculpture has been made in multiples and placed around the world. The image was originally inspired by his father’s death. The red and green were meant to recall the sign of the Phillips 66 where his father toiled during the artist’s hardscrabble childhood when he was still known as Robert Clark. Later it was adapted by the hippie free love movement after skateboarding was banned in Philadelphia’s Love Park. There are also different versions in Hebrew, Chinese, Italian and Spanish. Although there are issues with copy rights, his work inspired and connected people’s hearts just as Gran Fury’s work, in a different way. Alow the series being placed all over the world sharing the subject of love is a movement by itself promoting love.

Project Draft

Project

 My area is around Lincoln center and while i was working on the subway project, I noticed how the MTA artwork was matching with the theme of Lincoln center and performing arts. I think it is a good idea to set up an installation inside of the Lincoln center area matching the theme of performing art. The major audience of this, hopefully are visitors of all ages. The project is aiming to celebrate Lincoln center and performing art. They look like interactive boxes. I have two drafts: one is on the left; the boxes are on the ground. On the left side, it is the second draft, in which the “boxses” are imbeded in the stairs. The installation is interactive so the visitors would be discovering it easily. The demographic of Lincoln center specifically are mostly visitors and audiences. So I hope this installation could be something entertaining to them, rather than relating to a completely different subject/event that’s hosted inside of the Lincoln center. This project is about Lincoln center and celebrating the performing arts. I found a project that also celebrating performing art; it was a hippo wearing tutu. However it didn’t find abstract installation under the same topic. Most of the sculptures that have been exhibited at Lincoln center was large in size and very visible. I think this project is relatively “humble” and doesn’t bother the pedestrian when the crowd is large. 

Theses boxes could be opened. If you step on them they will glow and the images that celebrating performing arts will show up. If you open them, there will be poetries in led light inside. So this project is not supposed to catch too much attention or make the traffic worse. I hope this is an installation that’s celebrating performing arts, Lincoln center, matching with the environment but also entertaining for the the visitors, and especially tourist or first-time visitors. There would be seasonal designs inside or outside of the box matching with the current events. Hopefully the designs are collaborated with current students in art and performing schools.

Public Narrative: Gran Fury

Lacey Loughlin

The Gran Furys strategy of creating T-shirts, posters, and banners as a way to communicate their ideas and the need for AIDS to be taken seriously reminded me of how widespread and widely communicated the need to vote in the midterm election is. The word "VOTE" is seen everywhere. On t-shirts, sidewalks, social media. It resonated because this election has a record high amount of voters.

Public Narratives in NY - Gran Fury

Public Art Work in NYC

Natasha Geniyeva 

Candy Chang’s ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful

The public art work that I am discussing is Candy Chang’s ‘Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’. It is located in Rubin Museum of Art from February 2018 through January 7, 2019. It is a participatory installation that invites the visitors to share their anxieties and hopes on blue and red cards and hang them on a wall. The idea behind this participatory installation is to record a live catalogue of all the ways in which humans relate to the uncertainty of tomorrow. Similar to Gran Fury strategy of public art works, ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ unites the communities together that share a similar story - the anxiety and the hopefulness. The Gran Fury focuses on AIDS and the collaboration with different artists have helped Gran Fury shape their authentic style. ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ is still being developed today, also by the community, but it does not reinvent the style of the art work, but the participation helps build the the piece altogether. A strategy of Gran Fury that can also be seen in Candy Changs art work is to enclose a very complex thing - the struggle of the society with anxiety and hopes - in a very concise form. ‘A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’ also responds to the frustration of the inability of the society to articulate the issues - in this case anxiety and hopes. It is similar to the Gran Fury’s strategy when it came to creating their public artwork s focusing on AIDS. Gran Fury decided to go straight to the point about how they felt - which is what Candy Chang’s piece allows people to accomplish when the participate in the live production of the ‘Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful’. 

Candy Chung 'A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful' 

Image taken from http://candychang.com/work/a-monument-for-the-anxious-and-hopeful/

Gran Fury - NYC Public Narrative - Huzaima Al-Rifai

#DumpTrump is a visual movement that expresses the public's opinion on today's  US President. There has been many campaigns, demonstrations and imagery expressing the public's opinion in various controversial and satirical ways. #DumpTrump was created by artist NYC based street artist Hanksy; He states " Dump Trump 2015. Better or worse, I’ll be known for this piece of crap for quite some time. I painted it long before the current tire fire that is the Trump administration. It made headlines, appeared on bootleg merch from Canal St to Los Angeles and was replicated countless times at protests across the country. Simple or otherwise, people connect to imagery. It was a cartoon piece of shit because Trump’s a human piece of shit. Straightforward w/o being overtly graphic. My friends and I toured the country with it. Some flew, many drove. We went to the early primaries and called it #DumpAcrossAmerica. I was so ready for him to lose. For him and his human slug family to slither into the shadows of shame. But he didn’t and here we are. Looking back, it’s partly responsible for my current mindset. There’s a reason people voted for him and there’s a reason he was elected." Similar to Gran Fury's AIDS collective, this #DumpTrump has been copied and used by the public as a form of expression regarding a current controversial topic in today's society - Many with the same political opinions have used or modeled this image, 
therefore becoming a collective community in-itself. 

The Free Peddler- Connection to Gran Fury

Currently, in The Socrates Annual, Antone Konst has created a work of art that engages socially and politically to the community and the space. His work, Free Peddler, takes on the role of the traveling salesperson, that has been a trope throughout history. This "peddler" takes on a different role in this work, providing a platform on its back for the community and visitors to place and take objects. The artist has stocked the sculpture with items that he deems "necessary" such as books, tampons, unperishable foods, books, etc. and invites the public to leave and take things as well. I visited this exhibition which is located in Socrates Park in LIC a few weeks after the opening and the objects placed by the public were very interesting. Some were obviously a joke such as an old sock or knotted shoelaces, other took it seriously, placing water bottles, band-aids, reading glasses and maps of the city, discount coupons, and others took a sentimental or personal approach placing postcards to people that it would never reach, flyers to cultural events in the area, jewelry, personal phone numbers for "a chat", condoms, an advertisement for Bumble, VIA coupon code,  etc.

This work has become a platform for the trade of good that reflects our contemporary society. In some ways, it shows how politics has a role in our everyday lives with the inclusion of tampons which are taxed, educational books that represent the inaccessibility to education/the downgrading of the education system, and basic first aid items such as band-aids, reading glasses, and painkillers to show the inaccessibility to proper and affordable health care. It also reflects our society's culture through the inclusion of the dating app advertisement, the flyers for cultural events, and pop culture magazines.

Although the sculpture is constructed and presented in a playful and innocent way within an environment that houses many other works with different meanings, it is important to acknowledge the function of the work in relation to the space. Being that Socrates is a non-profit, free to the public park, it becomes accessible to anyone in the park, creating a sense of give-and-take within the community in addition to providing a visual representation of the current culture of the area. Its funny demeanor takes away from its seriousness, making it an inviting piece that one would likely interact with yet, for some, this work serves as a provider, a resource, or a simple catalyst for reflection of what they can give to others and the community.